BS  2417. S7  P26 

Parsons,  Edward  s. 

The  social  message  of  Jesus 


NOV    -26  1968 

The    Social    Mess^agg^..;(iAL  %i^M^ 


of    Jesus 


A  Course  of  Twelve  Lessons 


BY 

EDWARD  S.  PARSONS 

Professor  in  Colorado  College 


New  York 

National  Board 

of  Tfie  Young  Womens  Cfjristian  Associations 

of  the  United  States  of  America 

600  Lexington  Avenue 


Third  Edition 

Copyright,  1912,  by 

National  Board 

OF  The  Young  Womens  Christian  Associations 

of  the  United  States  of  America 


CONTENTS 


Preface 
Lesson  I. 
Lesson  IL 
Lesson  IIL 
Lesson  IV. 


Lesson  V. 


Lesson  VL 

Lesson  VIL 
Lesson  VIIL 
Lesson  IX. 
Lesson  X. 
Lesson  XL 
Lesson  XII. 


Introduction 

The  Social  Nature  of  Jesus     . 
The  Social  Ideal  of  Jesus 
The    Social    Consequences    of 

the    Personal    Teaching    of 

Jesus  .... 

The    Social    Consequences    of 

the    Personal    Teaching    of 

Jesus   (Continued) 
The  Personal   Basis   of  Jesus' 

Social  Teaching 
Social  Groups :  The  Family 
Social  Groups :  The  Rich 
Social  Groups :  The  Poor 
Social  Classes 
Social  Groups:  The  State 
Conclusion 


5 

7 
15 
25 


35 


43 

51 
65 
77 
87 
93 
101 
109 


PREFACE 

The  lessons  which  follow  do  not  aim  to  be  a 
course  in  sociology,  nor  a  discussion,  except  in  an 
incidental  way,  of  particular  social  problems.  They 
aim  to  develop,  from  a  study  of  His  words  and  His 
deeds,  the  message  of  the  great  Teacher  to  His  own 
generation  and  to  every  generation.  It  is  hoped 
that  the  personal  contact  with  the  life  and  spirit  of 
Jesus  which  a  careful  investigation  of  the  theme 
along  the  lines  laid  down  will  bring  to  the  student 
will  furnish  him,  not  so  much  with  social  informa- 
tion as  with  the  disposition  and  the  motive  which 
will  make  him  of  use  in  bringing  in  the  kingdom. 

It  will  be  seen  that  my  debt  is  large  to  a  few 
books  which  are  well  known  to  every  student  of  the 
field.  The  following  are  suggested  as  nearest  the 
heart  of  the  theme  : 

Peabody,  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Question. 

Shailer  Mathews,  The  Social  Teaching  of  Jesus. 

Rauschenbusch,  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis. 

Cone,  Rich  and  Poor  in  the  Neiv  Testament  is 
an  acute  discussion  of  one  phase  of  the  subject,  and 
Campbell's  Christianity  and  the  Social  Order,  like 
Rauschenbusch's  volume,  makes  a  study  of  Jesus' 
message  the  basis  of  an  earnest  plea  for  socialism 
as  the  completest  modern  expression  of  the  mes- 
sage. Gladden,  The  Church  and  Modern  Life,  and 
Henderson,  Social  Duties  from  the  Christian  Point 
of   Vieiu,   discuss  present-day   applications  of   the 


6  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

message.  For  carefully  chosen  lists  of  books  in 
this  field  and  related  fields  the  student  is  referred 
to  Edwards,  Studies  in  American  Social  Conditions, 
and  Strong,  The  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom,  Vol.  II., 
68f. 

The  use  of  the  American  revision  of  the  Bible  is 
recommended.  All  references  are  to  this  edition. 
The  division  of  the  subjects  into  lessons  is  along  the 
lines  of  natural  cleavage.  It  is  suggested  that  indi- 
viduals or  classes  work  through  the  material  as 
slowly  or  as  rapidly  as  their  interest  may  dictate. 

The  list  of  those  who  have  helped  me  with  this 
little  volume  would  be  a  long  one  if  I  should  publish 
the  names.  I  am  grateful  to  all  whose  encourage- 
ment and  kindly  counsel  have  helped  me  to  make 
it  what  it  is. 

Edward  S.  Parsons. 

Colorado  College, 

Colorado  Springs.  Colo., 
November  14,  1910. 


LESSON  I 


INTRODUCTION 


Every  epoch  has  its  dominant  interest.  To-day 
the  supreme  interest  of  the  world  is  the  social  ques- 
tion. We  see,  as  our  forefathers  did  not,  that 
everything  has  its  social  side ;  we  have  found  out 
that  no  man  lives,  or  can  live,  in  any  department  of 
life  unto  himself  alone.  There  is  a  social  implica- 
tion in  every  physical  question,  every  educational 
question,  every  economic  question,  every  political 
question,  every  moral  and  religious  question.  Rec- 
ognition of  this  fact  is  both  cause  and  result  of  a 
social  interest  such  as  the  world  has  never  seen 
before.  The  first-hand  study  of  social  conditions 
which  has  been  carried  on  with  such  conscientious- 
ness and  sympathy  during  the  last  few  decades  has 
borne  its  fruit  in  a  deep-seated  desire  for  a  wider 
reign  of  justice  and  kindness,  the  day  of  the  un- 
privileged for  which  the  world  has  waited  so  long. 

The  change  in  the  attitude  of  the  world  toward 
such  questions  during  a  generation  has  been  most 
astonishing.  A  generation  ago  the  doctrine  of 
laisses-faire  was  the  manifestation  in  one  field  of 
the  spirit  of  the  time.  "The  Book  of  Daniel  Drew," 
recently  published,  whether  an  autobiographical 
record  or  a  biographical  interpretation,  uncovers 
the  shame  of  the  same  period  in  the  sphere  of 
finance  and  politics.  What  this  attitude  was  it  had 
become  by  a  natural  evolution.    In  the  Middle  Ages 


8  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

the  life  of  the  Christian  community  was  dominated 
by  the  Church.  There  was  social  solidarity,  but 
under  such  repression  that  the  individual  became 
merely  passive.  Then  came  the  great  reaction  of 
the  Reformation  which  was  fundamentally  the 
assertion  of  the  individual,  his  right  to  be,  to 
develop,  to  exercise  authority.  In  Puritanism  this 
new  spirit  manifested  itself  as  the  recognition  that 
God  and  the  individual  soul  stand  in  a  supreme  rela- 
tion to  one  another,  in  utter  isolation.  Compared 
with  that  relationship  the  closest  ties  of  family  and 
friendship  are  as  nothing.  Bunyan's  Christian 
leaves  his  wife  and  children  behind  when  he 
journeys  to  the  Celestial  City.  Out  of  this  sense  of 
the  importance  of  the  individual,  his  relationship  to 
his  Maker,  and  the  authority  of  the  individual  con- 
science, came  into  being  the  multiplicity  of  religious 
sects.  In  the  logic  of  Puritanism  there  was  room 
for  as  many  sects  as  there  were  individuals,  but  the 
truth  of  the  Reformation  having  been  mastered,  the 
pendulum  began  to  swing  back.  The  world  is 
returning  to  the  doctrine  of  social  solidarity,  but 
not  to  that  doctrine  in  its  earlier  meagerness.  It  is 
true  that  extreme  socialism  seeks  to-day  almost  the 
reassertion  of  the  conception  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
an  idea  of  social  solidarity  which  would  not  merely 
make  the  individual  passive,  but  would  even  sup- 
press him  altogether.  But  we  may  be  sure  that  any 
doctrine  of  society  which  the  world  of  to-day  and 
of  to-morrow  will  accept  must  have  in  it  what  the 
centuries  of  intellectual  and  moral  struggle  have 
won  for  us,  that  the  individual  as  well  as  society  is 


INTRODUCTION  9 

sacred,  and  that  the  only  possible  solution  of  the 
social  problem  is  one  which  recognizes  the  mass 
and  the  individual  as  the  equally  significant  poles 
of  social  relationship. 

Meanwhile  who  shall  teach  us  the  truth  about 
these  all-important  matters?  To  whom  shall  we 
go  for  the  words  of  eternal  life?  In  Emerson's 
day,  so  he  tells  us,  "not  a  reading  man  but  has  a 
draft  of  a  new  community  in  his  waistcoat  pocket."^ 
Similarly  to-day  men  of  every  type  of  social  faith, 
from  the  state  socialist  at  one  extreme  to  the  anar- 
chist at  the  other,  are  ofifering  us  their  solutions  of 
the  social  problem.     \\'ho  has  the  word  of  truth? 

Jesus  Christ  has  proved  His  insight  into  the 
individual  life.  He  has  demonstrated  His  mastery 
of  the  art  of  "making  a  life"  for  Himself  and  for 
those  who  have  let  Him  inspire  and  lead  them. 
Has  He  any  light  upon  these  social  questions,  or  are 
they  too  modern  for  Him?  Many  of  them  are 
modern  in  form  but  they  are,  after  all,  only  modifi- 
cations of  problems  which  are  as  old  as  humanity. 
"One  and  one"  creates  a  social  problem.  The 
family,  womanhood,  childhood,  our  attitude  toward 
friends,  neighbors  and  those  afar  oflf,  the  acquisi- 
tion and  use  of  wealth,  these  and  many  others  like 
them  are  problems  which  in  one  form  or  another 
date  from  the  beginning  of  the  race.  Jesus  recog- 
nized them  ;  they  were  always  in  the  background, 
and  often  in  the  foreground,  of  His  thought  and 
speech.  And  it  is  increasingly  the  conviction  of 
the  world  that  He  alone  holds  the  key  to  the  situa- 


1.     Carlyle-Emcrson   Correspondence,   Vol.    I.,   p.    334. 


10  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

tion,  that  if  the  social  problem  is  ever  to  find  a  solu- 
tion it  will  be  His  solution.  He  alone  has  for  the 
world,  here  as  elsewhere,  the  words  of  eternal  life. 

Happily  in  discussing  the  social  message  of  Jesus, 
we  have  little  or  no  need  to  discuss  speculative  or 
critical  questions.  We  are  not  concerned  here  with 
the  metaphysics  of  Jesus'  nature  nor  with  the  his- 
toricity of  all  the  facts  of  His  life.  Without  dispute, 
His  is  the  greatest  personality  in  human  history,  and 
we  have  a  right  to  assume  that. in  the  main  at  least 
His  life  agrees  with  the  record.  As  John  Stuart 
Mill  said  long  ago,  there  is  a  stamp  of  personal 
originality  about  Jesus'  words  which  is  its  own 
witness  to  their  genuineness,  a  fact  which  will  re- 
main after  the  last  word  of  historical  criticism  has 
been  spoken.  It  is  our  business  therefore  to  try  to 
interpret  what  Jesus  taught.  The  authority  of  the 
teachings  will  rest  upon  the  teachings  themselves 
which  reveal  a  freshness  and  sanity  and  modernness 
of  spirit  that  must  stir  in  the  present-day  student 
the  same  astonishment  which  they  aroused  in  those 
who  listened  to  Him  who  spoke  them  so  long  ago. 

But  at  the  outset  we  are  met  with  the  criticism 
that  the  very  title  of  the  studies  we  are  undertaking. 
The  Social  Message  of  Jesus,  is  a  misnomer,  that 
Jesus  had  nothing  to  do  with  social  matters,  that  in 
fact  He  kept  studiously  aloof  from  them,  that  the 
goal  of  all  His  work  was  the  transformation  not  of 
society  but  of  the  individual.  The  studies  them- 
selves must  be  the  refutation  of  this  one-sided  inter- 
pretation of  Jesus'  message.  It  is  enough  here  to 
sav  that  the  ideal  of  jesus  was  the  establishment  of 


INTRODUCTION  11 

a  kingdom ;  He  was  constantly  urging  that  men  do 
their  best  to  live  in  right  relationships ;  He  dis- 
cussed with  plainness  and  vigor  the  primary  social 
institution,  the  family.  And  moreover  all  that  part 
of  His  teaching  which  seems  at  first  glance  to  cul- 
minate in  the  uplift  of  the  individual  is  really  incom- 
plete unless  it  goes  beyond  the  individual  and  affects 
through  him  the  lives  of  all  with  whom  he  is  related. 
As  we  study  the  social  message  of  Jesus  certain 
facts  as  to  His  method  should  constantly  be  borne 
in  mind. 

1.  What  Professor  Peabody  has  called  the 
"occasionalism"  of  Jesus'  teaching.^  Jesus  was  not 
a  preacher  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  not  a 
lecturer  upon  theological  topics,  with  His  material 
organized  into  form  and  presented  to  His  hearers 
as  a  whole.  His  teaching  attaches  itself  to  the  con- 
crete case.  Life  is  His  opportunity  and  His  text. 
So  what  He  says  must  be  interpreted  by  reference 
to  the  occasion.  Like  a  wise  physician,  His  judg- 
ment is  always  based  on  the  insight  of  His  diagnosis. 
Without  this  fact  in  mind  His  teaching  will  often 
seem  inconsistent  and  even  contradictory.- 

2.  Jesus'  disavowal  of  any  desire  or  purpose  to 
legislate  upon  difficult  personal  or  public  questions. 
A  man  came  to  Him  asking  that  He  interfere  in 
a  family  matter  and  bid  his  brother  divide  the 
inheritance  with  him.  Jesus  vigorously  refused : 
"Who  made  me  judge  or  a  divider  over  you?"  and 


1.  Peabody,  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character,  p.   74. 

2.  A  good  illustration  of  the  different  treatment  of  two  cases 
which  resembled  one  another  in  a  few  points  will  be  found  by 
comparing   Mark    10:  17-31    with   Luke    19:  1-10. 


12  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

proceeded  to  uncover  the  real  difficulty,  the  covet- 
ousness  of  the  man's  heart  (Luke  12:  13-15).  Cer- 
tain of  the  Pharisees  and  of  the  Herodians  sought 
to  crush  Him  between  the  millstones  of  the  political 
situation  in  Judea  in  His  time.  But  He  refused  to 
be  drawn  into  a  discussion  of  such  questions  ( Mark 
12:13-17).  In  this  respect  His  attitude  toward 
the  social  and  political  questions  of  His  time  is 
absolutely  unlike  that  of  the  great  prophets  of  Old 
Testament  history.  They  were  the  leaders  of  their 
time  in  the  active  discussion  and  judgment  of  such 
questions.  The  prophetic  writings  are  text  books  in 
the  study  of  the  social  condition  of  the  age  in  which 
they  were  written  and  they  are  full  of  rebuke  of 
luxury,  of  the  oppression  of  the  poor  by  the  rich, 
of  the  monopoly  and  misuse  of  land,  of  drunken- 
ness and  avarice,  of  Israel's  attitude  toward  national 
and  international  policies.^  But  Jesus  rarely  dis- 
cussed these  questions — at  least  directly.  He  felt 
He  had  more  fundamental,  more  far-reaching  work 
to  do.  Had  He  given  His  message  in  the  form  of 
such  a  solution  of  these  problems  as  would  fit  the 
time,  His  teachings  would  have  been  outgrown  with 
the  development  of  civilization.  Because  He  de- 
voted Himself  to  the  proclamation  of  principles  and 
the  awakening  of  a  new  spirit.  His  influence  will 
be  perennial. 

"What  He  taught  was  not  a  code  of  rules  but  a 
loving  spirit;  not  truths,  but  a  spirit  of  truth;  not 
views,  but  a  view."" 


1.  Cf.   Rauschenbiisch,   Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis,   Ch.   I. 

2.  Robert    Louis    Stevenson. 


NOTES 


NOTES 


LESSON  II 

THE  SOCIAL  NATURE  OF  JESUS 

Pilate's  question,  "What  is  truth  ?"  could  not  have 
been  better  answered  than  he  answered  it  himself 
when  he  placed  Jesus  before  the  multitude  and  said, 
"Behold  the  Man!"^  Christianity  is  not  a  system 
of  abstract  truth,  but  the  incarnation  of  truth,  the 
manifestation  of  truth  in  the  deeds  and  spirit  of 
human  lives. 

"And  so  the  Word  had  breath,   and  wrought 
With  human  hands  the  creed  of  creeds 
In  loveliness  of  perfect  deeds."^ 

The  fundamental  social  message  of  Jesus  is  there- 
fore to  be  found  not  in  what  He  said,  but  in  what 
He  was.  His  words  interpreted  for  men  the  spirit 
of  His  own  life.  To  understand  what  He  taught, 
then,  we  must  come  to  know  Him  as  He  moved  in 
and  out  among  men,  sharing  their  joys  and  sorrows, 
their  labor  and  their  rest,  and  glorifying  all  by  the 
atmosphere  of  His  own  spirit.  We  must  study 
first  His  attitude  toward  the  social  life  of  His  day. 
1.  Jesus  drew  a  contrast  between  Himself  and 
His  forerunner,  John  the  Baptist,  Matt.  11:  18,  19 
(Luke  7 :  33,  34).  From  a  study  of  the  entire  pas- 
sage, Matt.  11:2-19  (Luke  7:18-35),  and  such 
passages  as  Luke  1:15-17;  Matt.  3:1-12;  Luke 
3 :  1-20,  answer  the  following  questions : 


1.  J.  Monro  Gibson,  Sermons. 

2.  Tennyson,    In    Memoriam,    XXXVI. 


16  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

(1)  To  what  type  of  life  was  John  consecrated 
at  his  birth? 

(2)  Where  had  John's  home  been  before  his  min- 
istry began?  What  had  been  his  manner  of  life, 
his  clothing,  food,  etc.? 

(3)  Before  his  ministry,  w4iat  had  been  his  atti- 
tude toward  the  life  of  his  time,  and  what  was  it 
during  his  ministry,  e.g.,  toward  those  who  came 
to  consult  him  at  the  Jordan  ?  toward  Herod  ? 

(4)  What  was  John's  social  message? 

(5)  What  does  Jesus  mean  to  imply  about  His 
own  relationship  to  the  life  of  His  time,  in  contrast 
with  John's  ? 

2.  Accepting  Jesus'  suggestion  as  to  His  own 
relationship  to  His  fellows,  let  us  study  Him  as  the 
records  reveal  Him  to  us  in  the  midst  of  the  sur- 
roundings in  which  He  grew  up  and  in  which  He 
labored. 

(1)  His  home.  Where  was  it?  Luke  2:39. 
What  were  the  characteristics  of  the  place?  John 
1 :  46  has  often  been  quoted  in  support  of  the  theory 
that  the  village  was  unwholesome  morally,  but  prob- 
ably Nathanael  was  Avondering  how  such  a  leader  as 
the  Messiah  could  come  out  of  such  an  obscure 
place.  The  community  was  a  small  one,  but  it  was 
on  one  of  the  caravan  roads  from  Damascus  to 
Egypt,  and  from  the  hills  about  could  be  seen  the 
Mediterranean  and  its  ships.  So  the  great  world 
was  in  sight  of  the  boy  Jesus. ^ 

For  the  characteristics  of  a  typical  Jewish  home 


1.     George  Adam  Smith,  Historical  Geographv  of  tlie  Holv  Land, 
pp.    432-435. 


THE  SOCIAL  NATURE  OF  JESUS  17 

of  the  class  in  which  Jesus  was  brought  up,  see 
Stapfer,  Palestine  in  the  Time  of  Jesus,  Book  I., 
Ch.  VIL,  VIII. 

How  large  was  the  family?  How  many  brothers 
and  sisters  were  there?  What  is  the  last  mention 
of  Joseph  in  the  New  Testament  ?  Luke  2:48; 
Matt.  13  :  54-56  ;  Mark  6  :  1-3.  The  suggestion  of 
these  passages  implies  what  as  to  the  extent  of 
Jesus'  responsibility  in  the  home?  What  were 
the  characteristics  of  the  mother  of  Jesus?  Luke 
1:26-38,  46-55;  2:19,  48-51;  Mark  3 :  31-35  ;i  15: 
40 ;  John  2  :  1-5 ;  19  :  25. 

Does  Luke  2 :  43-49  throw  any  light  upon  the 
hom.e  training? 

How  sympathetic  were  the  family  with  Him 
and  His  work  ?  Mark  3  :  21,  31 ;  John  7:3-6;  Acts 
1:14;  1  Cor.  15:7;  Gal.  1:19. 

(2)  His  occupation.  Again  of.  Matt.  13:55  and 
Mark  6 :  3.  How  did  Jesus'  occupation  relate  Him 
to  the  community  life?  Contrast  Him  in  this  par- 
ticular with  John  the  Baptist.  Does  John  8 :  29 
include  in  its  scope  the  carpenter  period  ? 

(3)  His  interest  in  social  festivities.  Jesus  did 
not  hold  Himself  aloof  from  the  friendly  gatherings 
in  which  the  social  spirit  principally  manifested 
itself.  Note  some  of  the  occasions  when  He  shared 
in  them.  Mark  2:14-17;  14:12-26;  Luke  7:36; 
14 : 1 ;  15:1,  2  ;  19  :  1-10  ;  24 :  29-31 ;  John  2:1-11; 
12 : 3-8. 

(4)  His  attendance  upon  Church  festivities.  In 
His  personal  relation  to  the  Jewish  worship  Jesus 


1..    Mark  3:  21   is  thought  by  some   to  belong  with   3:  31-35. 


18  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

showed  His  purpose  was  not  to  destroy  but  to  ful- 
fill. He  was  loyal  alike  to  the  synagogue  and  to  the 
temple.  Christianity  is  an  evolution  out  of  Juda- 
ism, a  historical  growth,  not  a  magical  gift  to  the 
world.  Luke  2:41-51;  Mark  14:12-17;  John 
2:13;  5:1;  7:2,  10;  12:12-15. 

(5)  His  frequent  association  with  crowds.  Dur- 
ing His  ministry,  except  at  certain  periods  of  retire- 
ment, He  was  almost  continually  thronged  with 
the  sick  and  those  who  were  eager  to  hear  His  mes- 
sage. Mark  2  :  1,  2,  13  ;  3  :  20 ;  11 :  8-10 ;  15  :  29-31 ; 
Luke  3:21;  4:42;  23:27;  John  6:2  and  many 
other  passages. 

(6)  The  breadth  of  His  social  affinities.  The 
ease  with  which  Lie  put  Himself  on  good  terms  with 
the  multitudes  reveals  the  complete  absence  of  the 
spirit  of  social  exclusiveness.  Nor  did  He  have  the 
class  feeling  that  w^ould  prompt  a  man  to  consort 
merely  with  the  poor.  He  cut  through  society 
"not  horizontally,  but  perpendicularly."  He  seems 
equally  at  home  with  rich  and  poor,  cultivated  and 
uncultivated,  saint  and  sinner,  with  persons  of  all 
ages,  sexes  and  nationalities.  Note  in  the  follow- 
ing passages  some  of  the  individuals  and  groups 
with  whom  He  associated.  Matt.  8:5;  9:9;  Mark 
1 :  16-20  (cf.  verse  20  with  John  18  :  15,  16)  ;  5  :  22  ; 
7:26;  10:13-16,  17-22,  46-52;  Luke  5:12,  17-26; 
7:36-50;  8:1-3;  14:1;  15:1;  19:5-7;  John  3:1, 
2  ;  4:  27  (cf.  old  and  revised  versions)  ;  4:  46;  12  : 1, 
2,  20,  21;  19:38-42. 

(7)  His  friendships.  Jesus  evidently  had  crav- 
ings which  even  the  consciousness  of  a  great  mis- 


THE  SOCIAL  NATURE  OF  JESUS  19 

sion  could  not  satisfy.  He  longed  for  human  sym- 
pathy and  the  sustaining  help  of  friends.  There  is 
a  note  of  deep  personal  sadness  in  John  6 :  67. 
There  were  circles  of  persons  of  varying  nearness 
to  the  center  of  His  friendly  affection  in  the  multi- 
tude of  the  disciples,  the  Twelve  with  a  few  women, 
a  group  of  three  disciples,  and  at  the  center  "the 
beloved  disciple."  There  were  homes  in  which  He 
was  always  welcome,  notably  the  Bethany  circle. 
Mark  3  :  13-19  ;  5  :  37  ;  14 :  33  ;  Luke  8:1-3;  10  :  38- 
42;  John  11:1-44;  12:1-8;  19:26;  21:7,  20;  cf. 
Acts"  1:13,  14. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  this  preference  of  Jesus 
for  a  small  group  of  the  disciples  was  the  cause  of 
the  frequent  dissensions  among  them.  Matt.  20 : 
20-28  ;  Luke  22  :  24-30.  Some  interpreters  believe 
the  ambition  of  the  sons  of  Zebedee  and  their 
mother  was  due  to  a  kinship  between  them  and 
Jesus,  a  conjecture  suggested  by  a  comparison  of 
John  19:25  with  Matt.  27:56  and  Mark  15:40. 
There  is  no  proof  of  this  interesting  theory. 

(8)  His  work.  This  was  done  almost  wholly  in 
a  social  environment. 

(a)  His  works  of  healing  were  usually  per- 
formed, not  in  out-of-the-way  places,  but  in  the 
presence  of  others,  often  of  a  multitude.  Matt. 
12  :  9-14 ;  15  :  29-31 ;  Mark  1 :  23-28 ;  Mark  5  :  25-34 ; 
9  :  14-27  ;  10  :  46-52  ;  Luke  5  :  17-26  ;  13  :  10-17  ;  John 
5:2-9;  9:1-7. 

(b)  His  teaching,  too,  was  in  a  social  environ- 
ment. It  was,  as  a  rule,  not  contained  in  set  dis- 
courses, but  consisted  of  words  spoken  man  to  man. 


20  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

Its  method  was  "the  case  system."  A  human  need 
or  a  human  problem  met  Him ;  His  treatment  of 
the  individual  case  contained  in  it  the  universal 
principle.  Matt.  8  :  5-13  ;  18  :  21-35  ;  Mark  7  : 1-23  ; 
9  :  33-37  ;  Luke  7  :  18-35  ;  10  :  25-37  ;  12  :  13-21 ;  15  : 
1-32  ;  John  4 :  7-42  ;  6  :  1-59. 

Are  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  (Matt.  5-7),  the 
instructions  to  the  Twelve  and  to  the  Seventy 
(Matt.  10:5-42;  Luke  10:1-24),  the  parables  in 
Matt.  13,  the  discourses  in  Matt.  24  and  25,  excep- 
tions to  the  above  statements? 

(c)  Once,  at  least,  Jesus  took  an  active  part  in 
the  work  of  social  reform.  John  2  :  13-22 ;  Matt. 
^1  :  12-17.^ 

(9)  His  spirit.  Jesus  not  only  lived  and  worked 
in  the  midst  of  men  and  women,  but  He  always  had 
uppermost  in  His  mind  the  desire  to  be  of  use  to 
them.  A  good  motto  of  His  life  is  to  be  found  in 
John  17:19.  He  came  in  the  spirit  of  service. 
John  13 :  2-17.  To  be  of  service  He  sought  to  be  in 
sympathetic  relations  with  all  men  and  He  was  con- 
stantly urging  His  disciples  to  break  down  the 
barriers  between  themselves  and  their  fellows.  It  is 
remarkable  how  often  He  inculcated  the  spirit  of 
forgiveness  (Matt.  5:23,  24;  6:12-15;  18:15-35; 
Mark  11 :  25  ;  Luke  17 : 1-4),  an  attitude  which  He 
illustrated  fully  in  His  own  life  (Luke  23:34). 
Nothing  could  have  been  more  striking,  too,  than 
the  patience  with  which  He  waited  for  the  slow 
development  of  the  disciples  and  meanwhile  bore 


1.  For  a  discussion  of  the  question  whether  there  occurred  one 
or  two  cleansings  of  the  temple,  see  Rhees,  The  Life  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  p.   109. 


THE  SOCIAL  NATURE  OF  JESUS  21 

with    their    misunderstandings    and    their    jealous 
bickerings.    IMatt.  20  :  20-28  ;  Luke  22  :  24-30. 

The  above  study  reveals  the  fact  that  Jesus  was 
not  a  being  exalted  to  a  lofty  position  above  the  life 
of  His  time  and  ministering  to  it  from  without,  but 
that  He  was  "found  in  fashion  as  a  man,"  and  lived 
in  the  midst  of  men,  vitalizing  them  by  His  contact 
with  them  in  the  daily  relationships  of  life.  He  did 
not  preach  down  to  them  from  a  pulpit.  He  shared 
life  with  them  and  taught  them  through  the  ques- 
tions and  the  experiences  which  they  brought  to 
Him.  Thus  His  truth,  His  character  and  His  spirit 
became  "the  leaven"  which  has  been  slowly  but 
surely  since  His  time  leavening  the  lump  of  human 
Hfe. 


NOTES 


NOTES 


NOTES 


LESSON  III 
THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  JESUS 

Every  great  movement  has  great  ideas  out  of 
which  it  grows,  which  dominate  its  development. 
A  historical  movement,  like  a  person,  to  be  largely 
influential  must  have  a  creed,  something  it  believes 
in  and  ardently  wishes  and  works  to  bring  to  pass. 
Jesus,  too,  did  not  seek  to  transform  the  world  by 
haphazard  deeds  of  helpfulness.  His  work  had 
an  intellectual  center,  an  idea  and  ideal  to  which  it 
was  pointing  and  by  which  it  was  guided  and  con- 
trolled. 

Like  every  other  great  teacher,  Jesus  had  one 
comprehensive  theme  into  which  He  gathered  the 
whole  of  His  message,  which  gave  unity  and  co- 
herence to  all  His  utterances,  occasional  though 
the}'^  were,  and  directed  to  cases  of  individual  need 
rather  than  arranged  in  a  system.  This  theme 
was  the  subject  of  His  first  preaching.  The  im- 
prisonment of  John  seems  to  have  been  the  signal 
to  Jesus  that  the  time  had  come  for  the  formal  open- 
ing of  His  work,  so,  as  the  prison  doors  closed  upon 
the  prophet,  Jesus,  catching  up  the  message  of  the 
forerunner  which  had  expressed  in  itself  the  long- 
ing of  the  nation,  annovmced  Himself  with  the 
words :  "The  time  is  fulfilled,  and  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  at  hand :  repent  ye  and  believe  in  the  gospel."^ 


1.  Mark  1:  15;  Mark  and  Luke  use  the  expression,  "kingdom 
of  God,"  Luke  6:  20;  Matthew,  "kingdom  of  heaven,"  4:  17. 
Neither  expression  occurs  in  John.  Instead  we  have  there  the  phrase 
"eternal    life,"    expressing   the    quality    of    life    which    faith    in    Jesus 


26  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

Jesus'  ideal  of  the  kingdom  had  its  definite  rela- 
tion to  the  conception  which  had  been  developing 
through  the  centuries  of  Jewish  history.  The 
growth  of  this  conception  may  be  summarized  as 
follows : 

Man  was  made  in  the  image  of  God  and  given  the 
dominion  over  all  creatures.  To  secure  his  true 
place  he  must  be  obedient  to  Jehovah.  Through 
disobedience  sin  enters  the  world  and  battles  with 
the  good  in  man,  the  promise  being  that  the  good 
shall  in  the  end  triumph.  Jehovah  comes  into  pecu- 
liar relationship  with  Israel,  abiding  in  the  nation 
and  fulfilling  His  promises  in  it.  He  brings  it  into 
its  own  land  and  there  becomes  Father,  Husband 
and  Shepherd  of  His  people,  relations  which  become 
increasingly  tender  as  the  years  pass.  A  kingdom 
develops  of  which  Jehovah  is  King,  which  is  to  be 
victorious  over  all  enemies.  The  victory  is  post- 
poned by  the  sins  of  Judah  and  Israel,  but  the 
delay  is  only  temporary.  The  Day  of  Jehovah  will 
come  in  which  He  will  bless  Israel  with  redemption 
and  will  punish  all  its  enemies.  The  nation  has 
become  enslaved  but  Jehovah  will  not  leave  it  deso- 
late. He  is  represented  by  the  faithful,  suffering 
prophet  who  by  his  heroism  and  self-sacrifice  wins 
for  himself  and  for  his  people  the  reward  of  deliv- 
erance and  exaltation  at  the  hands  of  Jehovah. 
Side  by  side  with  the  growth  of  the  conception  of 
the  prophet  is  developing  that  of  the  ideal  King, 


develops.  John  6:  40,  47;  17:  3.  There  is  no  ground  for  a  common 
misapprehension  that  the  phrase,  "kingdom  of  heaven,"  is  equivalent 
to  "heaven."  It  means  the  Messianic  kingdom,  begun  and  developed 
on  earth,  consummated  in  the  completed  work  of  the  Messiah  here 
and   in   the   heavenly   life. 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  JESUS  27 

Jehovah's  Son,  greater  than  David,  Who  shall 
bring  peace  to  the  world  by  overthrowing  His 
enemies  and  restoring  Israel  to  the  highest  place 
among  the  nations,  where  she  shall  become  the  chan- 
nel of  Jehovah's  blessing  to  all  mankind.  And  the 
people,  redeemed  and  restored,  will  have  a  new  rela- 
tion to  Jehovah,  Who  shall  write  His  law  hence- 
forth not  on  tables  of  stone  but  on  the  fleshly  tables 
of  the  heart. ^ 

Thus  had  the  national  ideal  been  shaping  itself 
under  the  influence  of  the  people's  longing  and  the 
genius  of  creative  minds.  It  has  often  been  pointed 
out  that  while  the  golden  age  of  Greece  and  Rome 
was  behind  those  nations,  the  golden  age  of  Israel 
was  in  the  future,  not  something  lost  never  to  be 
regained,  but  something  to  be  attained  and  held  as 
a  perpetual  blessing.  And  this  blessing  is  not  to 
be  the  selfish  possession  of  one  race.  In  Abraham 
all  nations  of  the  earth  are  to  be  blessed  (Gen. 
22:18).  When  Jehovah's  house  is  established  on 
the  top  of  the  mountains  all  nations  shall  flow  unto 
it  (Isa.  2:2).  The  completion  of  the  Messiah's 
kingdom  is  to  be  the  consummation  of  human 
history. 

In  the  time  of  Jesus  the  Messianic  hope  was 
taking  form  in  two  movements : 

1.  Popular  revolutionary  Messianism.  The  ex- 
planation of  this  outburst  of  national  feeling  was 


1.     Condensed  from   Briggs,  Messianic  Prophecy,   Ch.   XV. 

A  few  of  the  passages  upon  which  the  above  is  based  are  the 
following:  Gen.  1:26-30;  3:14,  15;  22:15-18;  Ex.  19:3-6;  Deut. 
18:16-19;  2  Sam.  7:10-16;  Ps.  21,  22  and  72;  Joel  3:9-21;  Amos 
9:9-15;  Hosea  11:8-11;  Isa.  2:2-4;  7:13-17;  9:6,  7;  11;  63:1-6; 
35,  52  and  53,  60,  61;  Zech.  14;  Micah  5:2-4;  Jer.  31:27-40;  Ezek. 
17:  22-24;    34:  11-31;    36:  25-36. 


28  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

the  poverty  and  suffering  of  the  masses  of  the 
people.  To  them  in  their  need  the  coming  of  the 
kingdom  seemed  too  long  deferred,  and  they  sought 
to  "force  the  hand  of  Jehovah"  by  armed  revolts 
against  the  government.  Their  ideal  was  "a  peasant 
high  priest,  a  new  state,  a  new  people,  and  no  king 

but  God Its  members  believed  that  if  once 

they  coufd  organize  an  independent  republic,  during 
its  struggle  with  Rome  the  Messiah  Himself  would 
come  to  their  aid."^  This  form  of  Messianism 
began  to  be  prominent  about  the  time  of  the  death 
of  Herod  the  Great,  and  during  the  first  century 
there  were  a  number  of  attempts,  chiefly  on  the 
part  of  the  Zealots,  to  realize  the  ideal  of  an  inde- 
pendent kingdom.  Suggestions  of  these  insurrec- 
tions are  to  be  found  in  such  passages  as  Mark  13 : 
32  (Matt.  24' :  11,  24)  ;  Acts  5  :  34-39  ;  21 :  38. 

2.  Pharisaic  Messianism.  This  form  of  the 
Messianic  hope  was  fashioned  in  the  study  rather 
than  on  the  field.  It  was  developed  by  men  who 
did  not  feel  the  immediate  burden  of  a  crushing 
poverty.  During  the  Maccabean  days  the  Phari- 
saic party  had  had  political  hopes,  but  with  the 
complete  subjection  of  Israel  to  Rome  these  were 
transformed  into  religious  longings.  God  was  the 
founder  and  guardian  of  the  nation.  His  plan  was 
behind  its  development  and  some  day  He  would 
fulfill  His  promises.  But  He  was  not  to  be  hurried ; 
force  could  not  hasten  the  issue ;  all  would  come 


1.  Mathews,  The  Messianic  Hope  in  the  New  Testament,  pp.  19, 
20.  This  book  is  a  very  valuable  and  interesting  discussion  of  the 
theme  of  this  lesson  and  to  it  the  writer  is  largely  indebted.  The 
student  is  also  referred  to  Cone,  Rich  and  Poor  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, Ch.   III.,   for  a  careful   presentation   of  the   same   subject. 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  JESUS  29 

out  right  in  His  own  time.  Men  must  trust  Him 
and  patiently  wait  His  will.  Meanwhile  a  creed 
developed,  an  interpretation  of  what  would  happen 
when  God  was  ready.  The  following  were  the 
principal  articles : 

(1)  There  are,  in  God's  plan,  two  ages — "this 
age,"  evil,  under  the  control  in  part  at  least  of 
Satan,  and  "the  coming  age,"  the  good  time  ahead 
of  the  nation  and  the  world,  to  be  introduced  by  a 
catastrophe,  beginning  and  establishing  the  rule  of 
Jehovah. 

(2)  The  new  kingdom  will  be  limited  to  Jews; 
it  will  involve  a  judgment  upon  the  enemies  of 
Israel.  It  will  not  come  as  an  evolution,  but  as  the 
free  gift  of  God. 

(3)  The  righteous  dead  will  share  in  this  king- 
dom by  a  resurrection. 

(4)  A  personal  Messiah  will  be  king  of  this 
kingdom,  announced,  as  some  writers  thought,  by 
a  forerunner,  Elijah. 

Such  being  the  thought  of  the  Jews  in  Jesus'  day 
in  these  two  opposing  camps,  we  must  now  ask, 
How  far  did  Jesus  share  the  thought  of  His  time? 
From  a  study  of  the  following  passages  try  to  deter- 
mine the  extent  to  which  He  subscribed  to  the  posi- 
tions of  the  Zealots  and  the  Pharisees  and  how  far 
He  rejected  them.  John  18:36,  37;  Mark  10:29, 
30  ;  Matt.  13  :  24-30,  36-43  ;  Luke  10  :  18  ;  22  :  31,  53 ; 
John  13:31;  Luke  12:32;  Mark  12:18-27;  Matt. 
25  :  31-46  ;  John  5  :  28,  29  ;  Mark  8  :  27-30  ;  11 :  1-11 
(Matt.  21 :  4,  5)  ;  14 :  61,  62 ;  Matt.  11 :  2-6  [cf.  Isa. 
61:1-3];  11:10;  17:10-13. 


30  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

Is  there  any  part  of  the  Pharisaic  creed  which 
Jesus  seems  distinctly  to  reject?  Matt.  8:11,  12; 
Mark  12:1-12;  Luke  4:25-27;  13 :  28-30.^ 

The  framework  of  Jesus'  thought  was  evidently 
inherited,  and  inherited  from  Pharisaism.  We  are 
accustomed  to  think  that  the  only  relation  between 
Jesus  and  the  Pharisees  was  one  of  hostility.  His 
harshest  criticisms  are  directed  against  them.  But 
may  it  not  have  been  true  that  the  reason  why  He 
was  so  hostile  in  some  points  was  that  He  sym- 
pathized with  the  Pharisaic  party  so  fully  in  others  ? 
He  saw  their  great  opportunity;  He  saw  how  far 
they  had  gone  toward  the  truth ;  He  saw,  too,  how 
their  thought  and  spirit  had  hardened  into  tradi- 
tion, how  the  reality  of  their  religious  life  was  dying 
out.  By  the  lashing  of  His  intense  words,  by  His 
exposure  of  their  selfishness  and  their  hypocrisy, 
He  hoped  to  quicken  to  a  new  and  better  life  the 
spirit  that  was  dying  in  them.  No  one  who  studies 
the  religious  parties  of  the  time  of  Jesus  can  doubt 
that  His  sympathies  were  most  fully  with  the  Phari- 
sees. They  were  the  preservers  of  what  was  best 
in  the  national  spirit.  In  their  faith  Jesus  had  no 
doubt  been  brought  up,  and  to  them  His  appeal  was 
made  for  leadership  toward  a  better  national  devel- 
opment. 

In  Lesson  II.  we  found  Jesus  a  part  of  the  social 
life  of  His  time,  not  on  a  pedestal,  nor  in  a  pulpit, 
but  a  man  among  men.    In  the  above  study  we  have 


1.  An  interesting  question  for  which  there  is  no  place  here  for 
an  adequate  discussion  is.  Did  Jesus  believe  in  an  external  apoca- 
lyptic kingdom,  or  is  His  language  figurative?  See  Shailer  Mathews, 
^Irssianic  Hope,    p.    67 i. 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OE  JESUS  31 

been  finding  Him  a  part  also  of  its  intellectual  life. 
He  grew  up  among  the  intellectual  conceptions  of 
His  land  and  of  His  age  just  as  He  shared  in  the 
social  customs  and  conventions  of  those  among 
whom  He  lived.  Does  it  lower  Him  in  our  con- 
ception to  discover  this  fact  about  Him?  Every 
great  religious  movement  starts  on  the  plane  of  the 
intellectual  life  of  the  nation.  It  does  not  first 
utterly  drive  out  the  old  and  supplant  it  with  the 
new.  It  starts  wath  the  old  and  leavens  it  with  the 
new.^  In  the  same  way  a  great  religious  leader  is 
not  an  iconoclast,  but  a  builder.  He  does  not  seek 
to  tear  down  but  to  build  up,  to  fulfill,  not  to 
destroy.  So  he  starts  with  what  he  finds,  but  inter- 
fuses with  it  something  which  at  last  transforms  the 
old  into  the  new. 

What  was  the  new  which  Jesus  interfused  with 
the  inherited  conceptions  and  traditions  of  Judaism  ? 
The  form  of  His  social  ideal,  as  has  been  said,  was 
inherited,  but  His  ideal  includes  something  more 
vital  than  its  form.  Its  essence  was  far  from  being 
an  inheritance. 

(1)  The  Jews  thought  of  the  kingdom  as  a  mili- 
tary rule  which  should  subdue  the  whole  earth. 
Was  this  Jesus'  idea?  John  18:36,  37.  In  the 
temptation  (Matt.  4: 1-11)  what  was  Jesus  tempted 
to  do? 

(2)  When,  according  to  Jesus'  teaching,  does 
the   kingdom   become    a    reality?      Matt.    5:3-10; 


1.  For  a  good  illustration  of  this  fact  see  Stopford  Brooke. 
Early  English  Literature,  Ch.  XI.  It  is  significant  that  many  of 
our  Christmas  customs  are  pre-Christian  and  that  the  name  of  our 
chief  Christian  festival,  Easter,  is  derived  from  that  of  a  heathen 
goddess. 


32  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

12:28;  Mark  10:14;  Luke  10:9;  17:20,  21   (see 
margin). 

(3)  What  is  the  spirit  of  the  kingdom?  Matt. 
6:12-15;  25-34;  23:8-12;  Mark  10:42-45;  Luke 
10 :  25-37 ;  14 :  25-35  ;  John  18  :  36,  37. 

(4)  How  is  the  kingdom  to  develop  within? 
Matt.  13:33. 

(5)  How  is  the  kingdom  to  develop  wiihout? 
Matt.  13  :  31,  32. 

(6)  What  was  the  fundamental  fact  in.  Jesus' 
thought  of  Himself  as  the  Messiah  ?  Mark  8 : 
27—9  :  1 ;  Luke  22  :  27  ;  John  13  :  1-5  ;  17 :  19. 

Thus  Jesus  was  seeking,  as  the  goal  of  His  effort, 
the  perfecting  of  a  social  order  in  which  all  men 
are  brothers,  because  they  are  children  of  a  common 
Father,  bound  together  in  the  spirit  of  loving  ser- 
vice, a  social  relationship  in  which  He  is  supreme 
because  He  is  fullest  of  the  spirit  of  the  kingdom. 
While  the  externals  and  the  phraseology  of  the 
kingdom  are  those  which  were  familiar  to  the  Jews 
of  His  time,  the  spirit  in  which  He  sought  to  launch 
it  and  which  He  was  to  pass  on  to  others,  by  pos- 
sessing which,  and  in  no  other  way,  they  would 
become  members  of  it — this  spirit  was  new,  and 
by  the  contagion  of  its  influence  He  foresaw  the 
kingdom  would  advance  and  spread  until  it  should 
reach  to  the  remotest  corner  of  the  earth  and  trans- 
form every  human  relationship.  Its  consumma- 
tion would  be  in  the  heavenly  life,  but  not  until 
the  city  of  God  had  come  down  to  earth  and  earth 
had  become  itself  a  heaven. 


NOTES 


NOTES 


LESSON  IV 

THE  SOCIAL  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE 
PERSONAL  TEACHING  OF  JESUS 

Having  now  gained  some  understanding  of  Jesus 
in  His  social  relations  and  of  the  ideal  which  was 
behind  His  work,  let  us  come  a  little  nearer  to  the 
teaching  itself.  This  is  usually  separated,  for 
convenience  of  treatment,  into  two  sections,  the 
personal  teaching  and  the  social  teaching,  but  fun- 
damentally they  are  one  and  inseparable.  The  per- 
sonal teaching  of  Jesus  is  simply  His  teaching 
turned  in  the  direction  of  the  individual,  and  His 
social  teaching,  that  same  teaching  turned  in  the 
direction  of  the  relation  of  individuals  in  social  life. 
These  two  aspects  of  Jesus'  message  are  two  sides 
of  the  same  shield ;  both  are  needed  to  give  the 
complete  significance  of  His  word  to  men.  In  the 
next  three  lessons  the  attempt  will  be  made  to  show 
how  inseparable  are  these  two  aspects,  how  they 
blend  in  almost  every  utterance  of  Jesus. 

Professor  Peabody,  who  has  written  so  wisely 
upon  the  principles  which  must  lie  at  the  basis  of 
any  right  settlement  of  the  social  question,  says : 
The  ethics  of  the  Bible  "are,  as  a  rule,  personal ; 
yet  the  consequences  of  its  ethics  are,  as  a  rule, 

social To  plant  in  the  soil  of  the  world  the 

strong  seed  of  the  Christian  character  was  to  be 
certain  of  an  abundant  harvest  of  social  conse- 
quences."^ If  this  is  true  of  the  teaching  of  the 
Bible,  as  a  whole,  it  is  emphatically  true  of  the  mes- 


1.     JesKS   Christ   and   the   Christian   Character,   pp.    196,    197. 


36  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

sage  of  Jesus.  To  test  the  validity  of  Professor 
Peabody's  words,  let  us  study  broadly  certain  char- 
acteristic teachings  of  Jesus  to  discover  how  in 
them  the  personal  and  the  social  mingle,  how  the 
personal  cannot  be  confined  to  the  individual  but 
has  its  bearing  upon  all  the  relationships  of  the 
individual  in  society. 

] .     The  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  Matt.  5-7. 

5 :  3-12.  The  Beatitudes.  These  should  be 
placed  almost  at  the  center  of  the  personal  teaching 
of  Jesus.  But  what  is  the  source  of  the  happiness 
promised?  The  "for"  clauses  seem  to  be  variations 
in  the  Hebrew  manner  of  the  same  thought.  For 
example,  it  would  be  just  as  true  to  say,  "Blessed 
are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness, 
for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  as  to  say, 
"Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for  theirs  is  the  king- 
dom of  heaven."  If  this  is  so,  the  personal  blessed- 
ness is  complete  only  in  what  sphere? 

5:13-16.     Personal  or  social  teaching? 

5:17-32.  This  passage  suggests  definitely  the 
theme  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  righteous- 
ness of  members  of  the  kingdom  in  contrast  with 
the  righteousness  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees.  Is 
the  theme  personal  or  social?  What  then  is  the 
motive  which  Jesus  suggests  for  the  cultivation  of 
Christian  righteousness?  Anger,  lust,  are  personal 
sins  to  be  eradicated  from  the  individual  character, 
but  do  they  stop  with  the  individual?^    The  accept- 


1.  The  offense  in  5:22  is  the  same  under  different  forms — - 
"angry,"  "Raca,"  "fool" — each  an  expression  of  anger.  The  pun- 
ishments form  a  rhetorical  climax.  Anger  deserves  the  judgment; 
it  deserves  a  still  severer  punishment,  the  council;  it  deserves  even 
the    Gehenna    of   iire. 


PERSONAL  TEACHING  OF  JESUS  37 

ance  of  the  individual's  worship  is  dependent  upon 
what?     (Cf.  Matt.  6:12.) 

5 :  33-37.  Jesus  is  evidently  discussing  a  matter 
of  personal  practice  here,  but  what  was  the  purpose 
of  the  oath  ?  How  do  you  reconcile  this  teaching 
with  Jesus'  practice  in  Matt.  26:  63,  64?  As  is  well 
known,  the  Quakers  have  followed  the  teaching  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  here  as  elsewhere  liter- 
ally. Such  is  their  character  for  truthfulness  that 
their  affirmation  is  accepted  by  the  courts  as  of  the 
same  validity  as  an  oath. 

5 :  38-48.  The  first  few  verses  of  this  section  are 
among  the  most  difficult  to  interpret  of  all  Jesus' 
utterances.  The  principle  laid  down  here  is  the 
same  which  Paul  enunciates  in  Romans  12 :  21,  that 
of  "love  yielding  and  putting  to  shame  in  the  spirit 
of  self-denial."  But  for  us  to  interpret  Jesus'  illus-' 
tration  of  the  principle  as  a  rule  of  practice  on  all 
occasions  would  be  to  introduce  moral  confusion 
into  human  relationships.  "This  principle  of  Chris- 
tian morality,  laid  down  absolutely  as  an  ideal,  by 
no  means  excludes,  under  the  determining  circum- 
stances of  sinful  life,  the  duty  of  seeking  one's  legal 
rights,  as  is  clear  moreover  from  the  history  of 
Christ  and  His  Apostles."  {Meyer's  Commentary 
on  Matthczv  5:38.)  See  John  18:22,  23;  Acts 
16:35-39;  23:3;  25:9-11. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  exact  interpretation, 
the  whole  passage  discusses  the  attitude  of  the 
Christian  in  what  sphere?  The  appeal  is  made  to 
whose  example  and  to  what  in  that  example  ? 

6:1-18.      This   passage   discusses   the   Christian 


38  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

attitude  toward  alms,  prayer  and  fasting.  The 
essential  point  in  the  discussion  is  noted  in  verse  1 ; 
in  what  phrase?  Is  the  Lord's  Prayer  a  purely 
personal  prayer?  Is  "our"  a  social  word,  or  simply 
a  plural,  used  because  Jesus  was  giving  this  prayer 
to  a  number  of  people?  How  many  of  the  petitions 
can,  by  the  most  liberal  interpretation,  be  limited 
to  the  personal  sphere?  What  disposition  in  us  is 
recognized  in  the  prayer  as  the  ground  of  our 
acceptance  with  God? 

6 :  19-3-i.  This  passage  will  be  taken  up  later  in 
connection  with  Jesus'  teaching  about  wealth. 
From  wdiat  standpoint  is  the  subject  of  the  amass- 
ing of  wealth  treated?  What  is  the  key  verse  of 
the  section,  and  what  is  the  key  phrase  in  that 
verse  ? 

7 :  1-12.  The  opening  verses  of  this  section  are 
clearly  in  the  social  sphere.  They  are  another  state- 
ment of  the  words,  which,  as  has  been  said,  may  be 
considered  a  life  motto  of  Jesus  Himself  (John 
17:  19).  This  suggests  the  question.  How  far  can 
morality  be  a  personal  matter  ?  Would  morality  be 
a  requirement  of  a  human  being  if  he  were  alone 
in  the  world?  If  God  and  our  fellows  were  blotted 
out,  could  there  be  such  a  thing  as  morality? 

Following  out  the  suggestion  of  this  passage, 
what  should  our  belief  in  the  goodness  of  God  lead 
us  to?  W'hat  then  is  the  philosophical  basis  of  the 
Golden  Rule?  ^^'hat  word  in  the  verse  (7:12) 
indicates  this?  Can  a  man,  then,  be  a  follower  of 
the  Golden  Rule  and  not  be  a  religious  man  ? 

7 :  13,  14.    The  Christian  pilgrim  moves  forward 


PERSONAL  TEACHING  OP  JESUS  39 

along  the  straightened  way  with  companions  in 
front,  behind  and  by  his  side.  If  Bunyan  were 
writing  Pilgrim's  Progress  to-day.  would  he  let 
Christian  desert  his  family  in  the  City  of  Destruc- 
tion and  make  his  pilgrimage  alone  ?^  Though 
obedience  to  Jesus  is  superior  to  the  claims  of  every 
human  relationship,  is  not  the  scene  in  Acts  IG :  34 
truer  to  the  essential  spirit  of  Christianity  than 
Bunyan's  interpretation? 

7:15-27.  Jesus'  teaching  in  the  Sermon  issues 
in  this  practical  exhortation.  Life  is  the  test  of 
profession.  What  are  the  fruits  to  be  borne,  the 
deeds  to  be  done?  Study  Alatt.  25:31-46  as  a 
commentary  upon  the  meaning  of  such  verses  as 
21-23. 

Looking  back  over  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
what  proportion  of  it  should  you  say  deals  with 
strictly  personal  teaching?  How  much  of  the  per- 
sonal teaching  can  be  considered  as  not  going 
beyond  the  individual  in  its  implication? 

1.     p.   8. 


NOTES 


NOTES 


NOTES 


LESSON  V 

THE  SOCIAL  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE 

PERSONAL  TEACHING  OF  JESUS 

(Continued) 

2.  Jesus'  great  summary  of  the  Law.  Matt. 
22:  34-40  (Mark  12:  28-34).  Cf.  also  Luke  10:  25- 
37.  The  first  half  of  the  summary  is  quoted  from 
Deut.  6 :  5,  the  second  half  from  Lev.  19  :  18.  Jesus' 
profound  study  of  the  Old  Testament  and  His  in- 
sight into  its  deeper  meaning  are  well  illustrated  by 
His  choice  of  these  two  passages  from  different 
books  to  form  a  unified  and  comprehensive  state- 
ment of  Scripture  teaching. 

The  fundamental  article  in  Jesus'  creed  and  mes- 
sage is  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  This  fact  calls  for 
what  response  in  us?  What  is  it  to  "love"  God? 
The  New  Testament  has  two  words  for  "love"- — 
phileo  and  agapao — the  first,  the  love  of  kindred  and 
friends,  love  of  the  emotions ;  the  second,  the  love 
of  moral  choice,  love  of  the  will.  The  second  is 
the  word  used  of  our  attitude  toward  God  and 
Jesus.  Does  this  distinction  throw  any  light  upon 
the  meaning  of  "love"  to  God?  What  is  it  to  love 
God  with  the  heart,  with  the  soul,  with  the  mind, 
with  the  strength? 

What  is  the  full  implication  of  loving  God  ?  What 
is  the  relation  of  the  second  part  of  Jesus'  summary 
to  the  first  ?  Cf .  1  John  4 :  20.  Who,  according  to 
Jesus'  interpretation,  is  our  "neighbor"?  How  in- 
clusive in  Jesus'  thought  is  Christian  brotherhood? 
For  the  comprehension  of  His  thought  by  His  fol- 


44  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

lowers,  see  Acts  17  :  26  ;  Gal.  3  :  28  ;  1  Peter  2  :  17a. 
Who  is  our  "neighbor"  in  the  United  States,  wait- 
ing to  be  helped  by  us  in  the  spirit  of  Christian 
brotherhood  ? 

In  the  scene,  the  description  of  which  is  added 
to  the  Fourth  Gospel  [John  21],  is  a  practical  illus- 
tration of  the  union,  as  Jesus  saw  it,  of  the  two 
parts  of  the  summary.  "Lovest  thou  me?"  he  three 
times  asks  the  repentant  Peter.  And  when  the 
answer  comes,  "Yea,  Lord,  thou  knowest  that  I 
love  thee,"  Jesus  adds,  as  the  necessary  conclusion 
of  genuine  love,  "Tend  my  lambs,"  "Feed  my 
sheep." 

3.     The  two  great  paradoxes  of  Jesus'  teaching. 

(1)  Mark  8:35  (Matt.  10:39;  16:25;  Luke 
9:24),  the  paradox  of  sacrifice.  Jesus  is  pointing 
out  that  there  is  only  one  avenue  by  which  the  pos- 
sibilities of  character  can  be  realized.  Does  self- 
renunciation  or  self-denial  express  what  He  means  ? 
What  is  the  distinction  to  be  drawn  between  the 
two?  David  Livingstone  pointed  out  in  an  address 
to  Scotch  students  that  the  sacrifices  of  the  mis- 
sionary life  are  not  essentially  different  from,  nor 
in  reality  any  greater  than,  those  which  are  made 
by  soldiers,  explorers,  seekers  after  wealth.^     The 


1.  "Hundreds  of  young  men  annually  leave  our  shores  as  cadets. 
All  their  friends  rejoice  when  they  think  of  them  as  bearing  the 
commission  of  our  Queen.  When  any  dangerous  expedition  is 
planned   by    government,   more   volunteers   apply   than    are   necessary 

to   man  it And  what  thousands   rushed   to   California   from 

different  parts  of  America  on  the  discovery  of  gold!  ....  How 
many  Christian  men  tore  themselves  away  from  all  home  endear- 
ments to  suffer,  and  toil,  and  perish  of  cold  and  starvation  on  the 
overland  route!  ....  Yet  no  word  of  sacrifices  there.  And  why 
should  we  so  regard  all  we  give  and  do  for  the  Well-beloved  of  our 
souls?     Our  talk  of  sacrifices  is  ungenerous  and  heathenish." 

Quoted  Blackie,  The  Personal  Life  of  David  Livingstone,  pp.  476, 
477. 


PERSONAL  TEACHING  OF  JESUS  45 

value  of  sacrifice  depends  altogether  upon  the 
motive.  A  man  may  sacrifice  for  the  basest  as  well 
as  for  the  best  ends. 

Does  Jesus'  principle  apply  only  to  character 
development  ?  Can  you  see  any  relation  of  it  to  art, 
literature,  scientific  research,  etc.  ?  Is  it  not  true 
that  only  he  who  has  learned  to  forget  himself  can 
be  fully  himself  as  a  painter  or  a  poet?  The  man 
who  constantly  sees  himself  in  his  work,  who  is 
thinking  of  personal  distinction,  is  producing  second- 
grade  work.  Self-consciousness  is  the  bane  of  the 
highest  effort.  Only  the  man  who  can  find  a  work 
big  enough  to  command  all  his  powers  and  can 
lose  himself  in  it  will  be  all  he  can  be  for  the  world, 
or  for  his  own  self-development. 

A  young  woman  in  one  of  our  western  colleges 
was  anxious  to  be  a  foreign  missionary.  She  was 
not  strong  physically,  she  seemed  to  have  no  apti- 
tude for  foreign  languages,  and  her  friends  tried 
to  dissuade  her  from  her  determination.  But  there 
was  a  great  desire  of  helpfulness  in  her  heart  and 
she  found  an  outlet  for  it  in  a  remote  district  of  the 
Turkish  Empire.  Spurred  on  by  her  love  she  was 
able  to  get  an  almost  incredible  amount  of  service 
out  of  her  weak  body,  and,  what  was  stranger  still, 
she  became  a  linguist,  able  to  speak  and  write  in 
several  languages.  When  the  great  massacre  of 
the  Armenians  was  in  progress,  the  soldiers  came 
one  day  to  force  an  entrance  into  her  girls'  school. 
She  met  them  at  the  door  and  told  them  that  the 
only  way  they  could  get  in  was  over  her  dead  body. 
They  fell  back  and  the  girls  she  loved  were  saved. 


46  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

By  forgetting  herself  in  love  for  a  needy  world, 
Corinna  Shattuck  became  a  saint,  a  hero,  a  never- 
to-be-forgotten  instrument  in  the  up-building  of 
Christian  civilization  in  the  East. 

A  recent  putting  of  Jesus'  paradox  is  to  be  found 
in  Professor  Royce's  The  Philosophy  of  Loyalty: 
"A  loyal  man  is  one  who  has  found  and  who  sees 
....  some  social  cause,  or  some  system  of  causes, 
so  rich,  so  .well  knit,  and  to  him  so  fascinating  and 
withal  so  kindly  in  its  appeal  to  his  natural  self- 
will,  that  he  says  to  his  cause :  'Thy  will  is  mine 
and  mine  is  thine.  In  thee  I  do  not  lose  but  find 
myself,  living  intensely  in  proportion  as  I  live  for 
thee.'  "^ 

Indeed  Professor  Royce's  book  is  little  more  than 
the  exposition  and  application  of  this  paradox  of 
Jesus. 

(2)  Matt.  20:26,  27.  The  paradox  of  service. 
This  is  really  a  corollary  of  the  first.  For  other 
statements  of  the  same  truth  see  Matt.  23:11; 
Mark  9  :  35  ;  10  :  43,  44 ;  Luke  22  :  25,  26.  At  the 
Last  Supper  Jesus  gave  an  object  lesson  of  what 
He  meant,  John  13 :  1-17.  The  reason  why  He  did 
this  was  no  doubt  His  knowledge  of  the  jealousy 
and  dissension  among  the  Twelve  as  pictured  in 
Luke  22 :  24-30.  They  were  expecting  an  earthly 
kingdom  and  they  wanted  positions  of  prominence 
in  it. 

State  in  your  own  words  the  principle  He  is  try- 
ing to  set  forth. 

So  in  Jesus'  view,  character  becomes  what  it  is 

1.     p.   43. 


PERSONAL  TEACHING  OF  JESUS  47 

by  virtue  of  its  relation  to  the  lives  of  others.  Read 
again  John  17:19.  According  to  Matt.  25:31-46 
what  is  to  be  the  basis  of  the  judgment?  Is  this 
consistent  with  Matt.  5:  21,  22,  27,  28? 

It  is  suggestive  to  put  side  by  side  with  Jesus' 
teaching  the  words  of  His  best  interpreter,  Paul. 
See  in  Gal.  5 :  22,  23  his  summary  of  the  personal 
Christian  virtues.  How  many  of  these  are  self- 
centered?    Cf.  also  1  Cor.  13,  especially  13:13. 

"Faith,  hope,  love,  all  the  graces  and  qualities  of 
the  spiritual  life  are  social.  They  lead  the  indi- 
vidual out  of  himself  into  relations  with  others."^ 


1.     Hyde,    Outlines   of  Social    Tlicology,   p.    175. 

It  is  natural  to  think  of  Christian  joy  as  a  merely  personal  virtue. 
But  the  following  shows  its  social  bearing:  "At  the  very  heart  of 
this  mystery  of  conversion  is  a  wild  joy.  A  soul  consciously 
unhappy  has  become  consciously  happy.     A  soul  bound  and  in  prison 

kas   been  loosed   and   is   free The   enchanted   felicity   which 

sends  this  man  singing  and  marching  into  the  slums  is  not  only  the 
token  of  the  miracle  in  himself,  but  is  the  magic,  as  my  book  shows 
over  and  over  again,  which  draws  unhappy  and  dejected  souls  to 
make  surrender  of  their  sin  and  wretchedness."  Begbie,  Twice-horn 
Men,   p.    20. 


NOTES 


NOTES 


NOTES 


LESSON  VI 

THE  PERSONAL  BASIS  OF  JESUS'  SOCIAL 
TEACHING 

Our  study  thus  far  has  brought  us  to  the  posi- 
tion that  in  Jesus'  teaching  what  concerns  the  indi- 
vidual really  reaches  out  and  includes  those  with 
whom  the  individual  stands  in  relationship.  But 
though  Jesus'  personal  teaching  thus  inevitably 
widens  out  and  includes  the  social  sphere,  one  of 
the  most  striking  characteristics  of  His  career  was 
its  "aloofness"  from  the  social  and  political  prob- 
lems of  His  day/  There  was  an  abundance  of 
these  problems — the  corruption  of  government,  the 
iniquity  of  taxation,  slavery,  low  business  and  home 
standards,  the  degradation  of  womanhood,  etc. 
Jesus,  in  His  teaching,  sometimes  comes  near  these 
problems.  Note  His  approach  to  some  in  the  fol- 
lowing passages : 

Matt.  20  :  25 ;  23  :  17-21 ;  25  :  14-30 ;  26  :  11 ;  Mark 
10  :  2-1 2 ;  12  :  13-17,  41-44 ;  Luke  5  :  27-32  ;  6  :  20,  21 ; 
7:30-50;  10:30-37;  12:13-21;  18:2-5;  19:1-10; 
John  4:16-18,  What  are  some  of  the  problems 
involved  here,  and  how  does  Jesus  meet  them? 

The  question  has  already  been  asked,  Would  it 
not  have  been  an  advantage  if  Jesus  had  taken  up 
the  pressing  problems  of  His  time  and  definitely 
enlightened  people  about  them?  How  much  help 
He  could  have  given,  we  think.     But  Jesus'  work 

1.     p.    12. 


52  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

was  fundamental,  not  merely  symptomatic.  He 
was  after  cavises,  lying  out  of  sight  in  human  char- 
acter, not  mere  results  in  the  surface  of  society. 
He  knew  that  if  He  could  solve  the  problem  of  the 
individual,  the  problem  of  society  would  be  solved. 
Environment  is  a  most  potent  influence  in  the  de- 
velopment of  human  character;  no  fact  is  revealed 
more  clearly  than  this  by  modern  expert  study  of 
social  conditions.  No  character  can  reach  abso- 
lute completeness  except  in  a  perfect  society.  But 
at  bottom  it  is  not  good  society  which  makes  good 
individuals.  The  quality  of  society  is  ultimately 
determined  by  the  quality  of  the  individuals  who 
make  it  up. 

Jesus  saw  this  fact  with  the  greatest  clearness. 
While  He  was  seeking  to  establish  a  kingdom,  the 
kingdom  was  the  goal  of  His  effort  and  not  its 
beginning.  "He  was  not  primarily  the  deviser  of 
a  social  system,  but  the  quickener  of  single  lives. "^ 
Indeed  the  kingdom  always  comes  when  an  indi- 
vidual bows  to  the  sceptre  of  the  King  of  the  king- 
dom, and  it  will  come  in  its  fullness  when  all  men 
have  accepted,  within  and  without,  His  rule. 

According  to  Jesus,  then,  where  is  to  be  found 
the  solution  of  every  social  problem?  Study  the 
following:  Alatt.  5:3-12,  13,  14,  23,  24,  43-48; 
10:7,  8,  34-39  ;  23 :  34-40 ;  23  :  8-12  ;  25  :  34-40  ; 
Mark  3:31-35;  10:13-16,  43-44;  Luke  10:25-37; 
13  :  23-34 ;  15  : 1-32. 

Jesus'  creed  was  a  simple  one.  A  just  and  loving 
Father  is  seeking  to  establish  His  kingdom  in  the 


1.     Peabody,   Jesus   Christ   and   the  Social   Question,   p.    90. 


JESUS'  SOCIAL  TEACHING  53 

earth.  That  it  may  he  a  kingdom  such  as  He  can 
approve,  He  seeks  to  develop  individual  citizens 
who  shall  be  worthy  of  places  in  the  kingdom,  men 
and  women  who  shall  express  His  own  spirit  of 
truth  and  love.  In  the  realization  of  this  spirit  in 
the  individual  life,  the  citizens  of  the  kingdom  will 
discover  that  they  are  all  brethren,  and  in  the  reali- 
zation of  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  will  be  found 
the  solution  of  every  problem  which  can  arise  out 
of  their  relations  one  to  another. 

It  will  be  seen  thus  that  Christianity  is  not  in  any 
sense  a  transaction,  something  wrought  out  inde- 
pendently of  those  who  are  to  share  in  it.  The  only 
salvation  that  is  worth  anything  is  one  which  saves 
from  sin  to  a  character  like  that  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Paul  is  agonizing  until  Christ  be  formed  in  His  dis- 
ciples (Gal.  -i:  19),  not  until  they  shall  express  their 
assent  to  certain  intellectual  or  moral  positions,  but 
until  they  become  Jesus  Christ,  until  His  spirit  bears 
in  their  character  the  fruits  of  love,  joy,  peace,  long- 
suffering,  gentleness,  kindness,  self-control.  Just 
as  Jesus  Himself  incarnates  the  spirit  of  God,  so 
every  true  follower  of  Him  will  in  turn  incarnate 
His  spirit. 

We  are  now  ready  to  consider  the  question.  How 
in  Jesus'  estimation  is  the  kingdom  to  advance? 
What  is  the  unit  of  social  force? 

].  As  has  already  been  pointed  out,^  the  Mes- 
sianic ideal  held  by  many  in  Jesus'  own  time  in- 
cluded the  idea  of  the  advance  of  the  kingdom  by 
force.    The  Messiah  was  to  become  a  military  king. 

1.     p.    27f. 


54  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

crush  out  all  opposition,  and  by  pressure  from  with- 
out fuse  all  elements  into  one  coherent  kingdom. 
This  Jewish  conception,  which  presented  itself  to 
Jesus  for  acceptance  and  was  constantly  being  urged 
upon  Him  by  those  nearest  Him,  has  had  its  place  in 
the  history  of  the  Church,  e.g.,  the  Crusades,  the 
Inquisition,  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Day,  the  use  of  the  state  to  crush  out  dissent 
in  England  and  in  New  England  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  etc.  The  same  spirit  shows  itself  fre- 
quently in  our  own  time ;  for  example,  in  the  attempt 
to  establish  truth  and  overthrow  error  by  the  force 
of  ecclesiastical  organization.  How  successful  has 
this  spirit  been  historically  in  advancing  the  king- 
dom? What  place  has  force  in  progress?  Would 
the  victories  which  have  been  won  by  force  have 
been  won  without  it,  if  those  fighting  the  battle  of 
the  truth  had  been  content  to  wait  and  let  the  spirit 
of  truth  conquer  by  its  own  inherent  force  ? 

Undoubtedly  there  come  times  Avhen  force  seems 
to  be  absolutely  necessary  to  secure  an  advance  in 
Christian  civilization,  but  probably  such  times  are 
less  frequent  than  the  world  has  supposed.  A  keen 
student  of  public  affairs  who  has  been  long  a  resi- 
dent of  the  South  and  in  the  closest  contact  with  its 
problems,  a  northerner  by  birth  and  education,  has 
recently  said  that  he  has  become  more  and  more 
convinced  that  the  issue  between  the  North  and  the 
South  could  have  been  settled,  and  would  have  been 
settled,  without  bloodshed  if  it  had  not  been  that 
the  people  on  both  sides  were  lashed  into  enmity  and 
bitterness  by  agitators.     Before  the  war  began,  the 


JESUS'  SOCIAL  TEACHING  55 

Quakers  throughout  the  South  had  already  given 
their  slaves  freedom,  and  their  example,  added  to 
that  of  England  and  other  European  nations,  was 
steadily  leavening  the  entire  nation. 

One  of  our  modern  exhibitions  of  this  age-old 
conception  of  force  is  the  glorification  of  legisla- 
tion as  of  superlative  value.  Unquestionably  legis- 
lation is  of  the  utmost  value  under  the  right  con- 
ditions. \Miat  are  those  conditions?  Is  legislation 
which  is  on  the  statute  books  but  not  enforced  a 
good  or  an  evil?  The  ideal  of  some  of  our  social 
workers  to-day  seems  to  be  to  secure  the  passage 
of  legislation  covering  every  evil  in  society,  appar- 
ently with  the  supposition  that  when  the  law  is 
passed  the  work  is  done.  It  is  true  that  only  by 
legislation  can  some  of  the  worst  evils  of  modern 
society  be  controlled,  and  at  last  eradicated.  But 
such  legislation  is  worse  than  useless  unless  it  has 
behind  it  the  spirit  of  justice  and  love  in  a  sufficient 
number  of  lives  to  ensure  its  enforcement.  A  pro- 
hibitory law  is  a  source  of  demoralization  if  it  is 
only  on  the  statute  books.  A  law  limiting  the  labor 
of  women  and  children  is  worthless  without  ade- 
quate inspection,  and  adequate  inspection  depends 
for  the  most  part  upon  the  temper  of  the  community. 

In  our  time  there  is  a  glorification  also  of  organi- 
zation. It  is  true  that  our  marvelous  modern  prog- 
ress is  largely  the  result  of  organization  and  that 
without  it  w^e  should  be  utterly  helpless  in  front  of 
many  of  the  problems  of  the  time.^     But  the  larger 


1.     "If  a   ring  is  to   be   put   into   the   snout   of  the   greedy   strong, 
only  organized   society   can  do   it."     Ross,   Sin  and  Society,   p.   93. 


56  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

the  organization,  the  more  necessary  the  inner  power 
to  make  it  effective.  One  loom  can  easily  be  moved 
by  the  hand  or  the  foot,  but  a  thousand  looms  are 
a  cumbrance  to  the  ground  unless  there  is  power 
at  the  center  of  the  factory  adequate  to  put  them 
into  motion. 

''Wheels  there  must  be,  and  wheels  within  wheels, 
and  the  adjustment  of  this  intricate  mechanism  is 
essential  to  eft'ective  philanthropy ;  but  the  wheels 
are  moved  by  the  power  of  love  and  the  mechanism 
halts  imtil  the  spirit  of  the  living  creatures  is  in 
the  wheels.'"^ 

How  much  stress  did  Jesus  put  upon  organiza- 
tion? How  far  did  He  organize  His  followers  for 
their  work?  How  far  in  His  teaching  do  we  find 
the  suggestion  of  the  development  of  a  church? 

2.  Another  ancient  conception  of  the  effective 
force  in  social  progress,  a  conception  which  is  being 
revived  to-day  in  many  quarters,  is  that  the 
world  is  to  advance  chiefly  by  intellectual  enlighten- 
ment. The  Greeks  held  strongly  to  this  conception. 
To  the  Greek  "insight  becomes  the  innermost  soul 
of  life ;  goodness  appears  to  depend  upon  correct 
knowledge,  evil,  on  the  other  hand,  is  an  intellectual 
mistake,  an  error  of  judgment.""  The  same  thought 
frequently  comes  to  the  surface  in  modern  discus- 
sions. 

wSin,  we  are  told,  is  ignorance.  Teach  a  man  the 
right  way  and  he  will  w'alk  in  it.  Enlightenment 
will  solve  the  social  question. 


1.  Peabody,    The  Approach   to   the   Social  Question,   p.   93. 

2.  Eucken,    The   Problem   of  Human   Life,   p.   8. 


JESUS'  SOCIAL  TEACHING  57 

Is  this  conception  Jesus'  conception?  What  is 
His  attitude  toward  the  intellectual  life?  How 
fundamental  is  the  education  of  the  intellect  in 
progress  ? 

In  a  time  when  the  intellect  has  won  such  amaz- 
ing victories  both  in  the  theoretical  and  in  the  prac- 
tical field,  it  is  easy  to  imagine  it  the  most  impor- 
tant force  in  human  progress.  But  it  requires  only 
a  little  reflection  to  discover  that  the  value  of  intel- 
lectual capacity  and  training  lies  in  what  is  behind  it. 

It  is  true  that  knowledge  and  virtue  can  never  be 
divorced;  the  clearest' discernment  is  always  essen- 
tial to  the  highest  type  of  character.  There  are  sins 
of  ignorance  as  fatally  destructive  as  sins  of  choice. 
Nevertheless,  while  intellect  and  character  should 
never  be  considered  as  in  opposition  to  one  another, 
the  intellect  is  after  all  the  instrument  of  the  char- 
acter. As  someone  has  put  it,  the  superb  intellec- 
tual training  of  to-day  is  like  the  marvelous  con- 
struction and  equipment  of  the  modern  ocean  liner, 
but  whether  or  not  all  this  marvel  of  ingenuity  and 
skill  is  to  be  for  the  world's  best  use  or  not  depends 
upon  the  man  on  the  bridge.  Character  is  at  the 
helm  in  every  life.  Given  truth  and  the  spirit  of 
love  at  the  center,  the  perfection  of  the  intellect 
means  ever  increasing  blessing  to  the  world.  But 
under  the  control  of  selfishness,  the  intellect  becomes 
increasingly  a  curse.  Intellectual  training  not  in- 
frequently engenders  "pride  of  intellect."  Pride 
of  wealth,  pride  of  birth,  are  essentially  vulgar;  is 
pride  of  intellect,  intellectual  snobbery,  any  Iqss 
vulgar?     We  are  emphasizing  to-day  stewardship 


58  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

of  material  wealth  ;  is  it  not  time  also  to  emphasize 
stewardship  of  intellectual  wealth?  The  greater  the 
intellectual  resources  and  training  the  greater  the 
responsibility  and  the  opportunity  of  service.  For 
their  sakes  not  only  do  I  sanctify  myself,  and  win 
wealth,  but  I  educate  myself ! 

It  is  the  duty  then  of  those  who  know  to  share 
their  knowledge  and  their  trained  power  with  those 
who  do  not  know.  But  this  duty  does  not  alter  the 
fact  that  telling  people  what  is  right  does  not  neces- 
sarily mean  their  doing  what  is  right.  The  seat  of 
action  is  deeper  than  knowledge  and  the  intellect 
has  only  a  part  in  the  final  result. 

3.  How  then  is  the  kingdom  to  advance?  How 
did  it  begin  ?  John  1:17.  As  has  been  pointed  out^ 
Christianity  is  not  a  system  of  abstract  truth  but  the 
incarnation  of  truth.  What  then  is  the  leaven  men- 
tioned in  Matt.  13:33?  What  according  to  John 
1:17  are  the  constituent  elements  of  the  Christ 
spirit?  The  kingdom  having  started  in  the  world, 
how  does  it  spread?  There  is  contagion  of  good- 
ness as  well  as  of  evil.  Goodness  has  the  power 
to  leaven  the  lump.  Given  one  life  filled  with  the 
spirit  of  grace  and  truth,  justice  and  the  spirit  of 
good  will,  how  can  such  lives  be  multiplied?  Their 
multiplication  involves  co-operation,  grouping,  or- 
ganization, and  greatly  increased  power  of  service. 
In  organized  effort  two  and  two  can  easily  equal 
five.  But  wherein  lies  the  value  of  such  united 
efifort?     Is  there  any  real  advance  of  the  kingdom 

1.     p.   15. 


JESUS'  SOCIAL  TEACH  I XG  59 

possible  except  through  the  increase  in  the  number 
of  lives  genuinely  filled  with  the  spirit  of  justice 
and  good  will?  "Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world." 
"Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth." 

Jesus'  thought,  then,  is  that  the  only  effective 
agency  of  social  progress,  the  unit  of  social  force, 
is  personality  charged  with  love.  "The  good  seed, 
these  are  the  sons  of  the  kingdom"  (Matt.  13:  38). 

We  are  so  accustomed  to  see  the  work  of  social 
betterment  directed  by  organizations  and  machinery 
of  every  sort,  that  one  is  tempted  to  forget  this 
fundamental  fact  of  Jesus'  message.  We  need  to 
see  this  energy  at  work  in  virgin  soil  to  realize  its 
power. 

In  1875  Arnold  Toynbee,  a  .student  of  Balliol  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  took  up  his  residence  in  the  White- 
chapel  district  in  London,  believing  that  the  only 
way  to  help  the  poor  is  to  have  a  vital  and  intelligent 
sympathy  with  them,  and  that  such  sympathy  can 
be  gained  only  by  living  in  the  midst  of  the  condi- 
tions in  which  they  live.  Out  of  the  influence  of 
his  brief  life  have  grown  the  social  settlements  of 
the  world.  His  influence  sent  a  brilliant  American 
student,  Stanton  Coit,  to  live  in  a  tenement  house  in 
Rivington  Street,  New  York.  His  work  in  that 
needy  neighborhood  expanded  into  the  Neighbor- 
hood Guild  of  New  York,  which  was  the  forerunner 
of  the  University  Settlement  of  New  York  and  of 
all  the  social  settlements  of  the  United  States  with 
their  multiplied  organizations  and  agencies  to  meet 
the  physical,  educational,  social  and  moral  needs  of 
the  neglected  districts  of  the  great  cities. 


60  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

The  life  of  every  pioneer  missionary  is  an  illus- 
tration of  the  same  fact ;  at  the  beginning  of  every 
great  missionary  achievement,  which  issues  in 
churches  and  colleges  and  hospitals  and  a  renewed 
community  and  national  life,  lies  the  self-forgetful 
heroism  and  good  will  of  a  devoted  personality.^ 

In  this  teaching  of  Jesus,  that  the  unit  of  social 
force  is  personality  charged  with  love,  we  have  the 
fundamental  fact  of  His  social  message.  All  His 
developed  teaching  is  the  application  of  this  prin- 
ciple to  particular  circumstances.  Every  problem 
of  human  society  yields  to  the  spirit  of  brotherhood. 

It  may  be  a  disappointment  to  some  that  we  have 
not  reached  a  spectacular  solution  of  social  diffi- 
culties, some  brilliant  panacea  for  all  the  ills  of  the 
world.  We  are  most  of  us  waiting  like  Naaman 
to  be  bidden  to  do  some  great  thing.  But  what 
Jesus  would  have  us  do  is  a  simple,  everyday  matter. 
If  we  fill  the  relationships  of  our  lives,  be  they  many 
or  few,  far-reaching  or  insignificant  in  their  influ- 
ence, with  the  spirit  of  justice  and  good  will,  then  so 
far  as  in  us  lies  we  have  made  the  kingdom  of  God 
come  upon  the  earth. 

"See  what  turn  the  mind  of  the  apostle  took  when 
he  was  arming  his  disciples  for  the  great  conflict 
of  the  age.  Children,  obey  your  parents — Fathers, 
provoke  not  your  children — Servants,  be  obedient 
to  your  masters — Masters,  forbear  threatenings. 
Finally  to  include  all,  put  on  the  wTiole  armor  of 
God.    As  if  the  first  thought,  in  arming  the  Church 

1.     E.g.,  the  lives  of  Carey,  Moffat,   Livingstone,   Paton,  etc. 


JESUS'  SOCIAL  TEACHING  61 

for  great  trials  and  stout  victories,  was  to  fill  com- 
mon life  and  the  relations  of  the  house  with  a 
Christian  spirit."^ 


1.  Bushnell,  Christian  Nurture,  p.  63.  An  interesting  illustration 
that  this  was  the  real  power  of  the  early  church  is  given  by  Pliny 
in  his  description  of  the  Christian  communities  in  Asia  Minor  in 
111  or  112  A.  D.  "They  affirmed  the  whole  of  their  guilt,  or  their 
error,  was,  that  they  met  on  a  stated  day  before  it  was  light,  and 
addressed  a  form  of  prayer  to  Christ,  as  to  a  divinity,  binding  them- 
selves by  a  solemn  oath,  not  for  the  purposes  of  any  wicked  design, 
but  never  to  commit  any  fraud,  theft,  or  adultery,  never  to  falsify 
their  word,  nor  deny  a  trust  when  they  should  be  called  upon  to 
deliver  it  up,  after  which  it  was  their  custom  to  separate,  and  then 
reassemble,    to    eat    in    common    a    harmless    meal." 

Pliny's    Letters,    Bohn   trans.,    p.    395. 


NOTES 


NOTES 


NOTES 


LESSON  VII 
SOCIAL  GROUPS:  THE  FAMILY 

Having  discovered  the  fundamental  principle  in 
Jesus'  message,  that  personality  charged  with  the 
spirit  of  justice  and  good  will  is  the  unit  of  social 
force,  we  turn  to  see  how  in  His  teaching  Jesus 
brings  this  principle  to  bear  upon  the  varied  rela- 
tionships of  life.  First  of  all,  how  in  Jesus'  thought 
does  this  principle  apply  in  the  primary  human  rela- 
tionship, the  original  social  group,  the  family?  The 
relations  of  husband  and  wife,  father  and  mother 
and  children,  children  and  children,  constitute  a 
world  by  themselves,  a  microcosm.  If  the  problem 
of  the  family  can  be  perfectly  solved,  every  social 
problem  will  be  solved,  for  there  every  human  insti- 
tution has  its  roots. 

1 .  Jesus  was  profoundly  interested  in  the  family. 
This  interest  is  shown  not  only  in  the  fullness  and 
definitcness  of  His  teaching  upon  marriage,  where 
He  departs  from  His  usual  practice  of  avoiding  the 
discussion  of  particular  problems,  but  also  in  the 
frequency  with  which  He  draws  upon  the  language 
of  family  ties  to  express  the  higher  relationships  of 
the  spiritual  life.  His  supreme  revelation  of  God 
is  in  terms  of  the  family.  God  is  Father  (Matt. 
G:9,  14;  23:9;  John  20:17);  mankind  are  His 
children  (Matt.  5:45)  ;  those  who  do  the  will  of 
God  are  to  Jesus  brother,   sister^  mother    (Mark 


66  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

3:  35).  Study  also  the  following  passages  as  illus- 
trations of  Jesus'  frequent  references  to  home  rela- 
tionships either  directly  or  in  figure.  Matt.  5 :  22- 
24;. 10:  21,  34-37;  13/52;  18:15-17;  22:2,  3;  24: 
43  ;  35  : 1 ;  Mark  7  :  9-13  ;  10  :  28-30 ;  Luke  14 :  12-14, 
26;  15:11-32;  16:27-31. 

2.  We  find  Jesus  in  close  touch  with  home  life. 
He  is  continually  meeting  men  and  women  in  their 
joys  and  sorrows,  sharing  in  the  festivities  of  the 
home,  proving  Himself  the  friend  of  little  children, 
moving  in  and  out  of  the  home  as  a  companion  and 
counselor.  See  Lesson  IL  Study  the  following: 
Matt.  20  :  20 ;  Mark  1 :  16-20,  29-31 ;  2  :  1  (see  mar- 
gin of  A.  R.  V.)  ;  5:  22,  23,  35-43;  7:  25-30;  Luke 
7  :  2,  11-]  7  ;  11 :  37  ;  12  :  13  ;  19  :  1-10  ;  John  11:1-5; 
19:25-27. 

3.  The  appeal  of  Jesus  is  both  to  men  and  to 
women.  As  the  circumstances  of  the  time  deter- 
mined, He  was  thrown  mostly  with  men  and  His 
chief  utterances  were  to  them.  They  formed  the 
whole  body  of  the  Twelve.  They  made  up,  for 
the  most  part,  the  crowds  which  gathered  about 
Him.  His  teaching  was  principally  in  terms  of 
their  lives.  E.g.,  Matt.  5:45;  8:12;  Mark  4:26, 
etc.  His  gospel  and  His  life  exalted  the  manly 
virtues  of  energy,  endurance,  courage,  determina- 
tion, devotion  to  duty.^  But  the  Gospels  show  that 
Jesus  did  not  hold  Himself  aloof  from  the  life  of 
women.  His  use  of  illustrations  from  their  life 
shows  he  was  acquainted  with  their  daily  activities 
(Luke  15:8-10;  Matt.  24:41).     And  the  story  of 

1.     Thomas  Hughes,   Tlie  Manliness   of  Christ. 


SOCIAL  GROUPS:  THE  FAMILY  67 

His  own  life  reveals  the  fact  that  He  was  constantly 
thrown  into  personal  relations  with  them. 

(1)  His  relations  with  His  mother,  Luke  2:48; 
Mark  3  :  20,  21,  31-35  ;  John  2  :  1-11 ;  19  :  25-27. 

(2)  Sisters  in  the  home,  Mark  6:3. 

(3)  Women  in  the  circle  of  His  companions  and 
friends,  Luke  8  :  1-3  ;  10  :  38-42  ;  23  :  55  ;  24 :  10 ; 
John  11:1-44. 

(4)  Many  women  mentioned  whom  He  met 
casually,  Mark  1 :  30,  31  ;  7  :  25-30  ;  12  :  41-44 ;  Luke 
7:11-15,  36-50;  8:43-48;  11:27,  28;  13:10-16; 
23:27-31;  John  4:7-29;  8:3-11. 

In  John  4:27  is  expressed  the  current  notion  of 
the  attitude  a  Jewish  rabbi  should  take  toward  a 
woman  (cf.  the  authorized  version  and  the  revised 
version  here).  But  Jesus  met  woman  on  the  plane 
of  equality  (cf.  Mark  10  :  11,  12).^  He  never  talked 
down  to  them.  Some  of  His  loftiest  teaching  was 
called  forth  by  their  needs.  He  inspired  His  dis- 
ciples with  His  own  spirit,  which  Paul  expressed  in 
Gal.  3 :  28.  And  wherever,  since  His  day,  His 
teaching  has  been  fully  and  frankly  accepted,  there 
woman  has  taken  her  true  place  by  the  side  of  man. 
Woman  was  right  in  being  "last  at  the  cross  and 
first  at  the  tomb,''  for  to  the  Christ  she  largely  owes 
her  social  and  legal  emancipation. 

4.     Jesus    also    had    the    closest    sympathy    with 


1.  "With  Jesus  there  is  neither  a  recognition  of  a  past  subjec- 
tion, an  attempt  at  her  emancipation,  nor  a  lament  on  the  difficulties 
to  be  foreseen  in  the  enforcement  of  His  teaching  in  regard  to 
marriage.  He  simply  treats  woman  as  an  equal — equal  in  the 
matters  of  marriage  and  divorce,  equal  as  a  companion."  Shailer 
Mathews,  The  Social  Teaching  of  Jesus,  p.  97.  Dr.  Mathews  points 
out  that  the  Greek  word  to  express  Jesus'  feeling  toward  women  is 
agapao  and  not  phileo.      Ditto   99,   note.      See  supra,   p.    33. 


68  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

child  life.  His  was  one  of  those  unspoiled  natures 
who  have  not  forgotten  their  own  childhood  and 
who  see  in  the  child  nature  the  expression  of  some 
of  the  supreme  qualities  of  the  human  soul. 

(1)  What  were  some  of  the  characteristics  of 
His  own  boyhood  as  indicated  by  Luke  2  :  40-52  ? 
What  may  be  considered  as  suggested  by  such 
phrases  as  "grew  and  waxed  strong,"  "filled  with 
wisdom,"  "the  grace  of  God  was  upon  him,"  "sub- 
ject unto  them,"  "advanced  in  wisdom  and  stature," 
"in  favor  with  God  and  man"  ? 

The  boyhood  of  Jesus  contained  the  ideal  ele- 
ments, (a)  of  an  environment  of  retirement  and 
quiet,  yet  with  glimpses  of  the  great  world,  a  place 
where  He  could  mature  slowly  without  the  hothouse 
forcing  which  is  so  destructive  to  many  children's 
development  to-day,  (b)  of  a  truly  filial  attitude 
of  the  boy  toward  his  father  and  mother,  (c)  of  a 
rounded  symmetrical  growth,  body,  mind  and  spirit, 
(d)  of  a  wide  range  of  relationships — family, 
neighbors  and  friends,  God. 

(2)  What  attitude  did  Jesus  take  toward  the 
children  with  whom  He  came  into  contact?  Mark 
5:22-24,  35-43;  9:17-27;  10:13-16;  Matt.  21:15, 
16.  What  was  His  sense  of  the  worth  of  the  child? 
Matt.  10  :  42  ;  18  :  1-14 ;  Luke  17  :  2.^ 

(3)  What  was  His  feeling  about  the  child  spirit? 
Mark  9  :  33-37 ;  10  :  13-16  ;  Matt.  11 :  25. 

What  in  the  child  nature  makes  it  the  natural 
possessor  of  the  kingdom?     What  childlike  quality 


1.     If  "little  children"  is  figurative  for  "new  disciples,"  the  figure 
itself,    nevertheless,    expresses   Jesus'    feelings   for   childhood. 


SOCIAL  GROUPS:  THE  FAMILY  69 

must  the  mature  person  acquire  to  enter  the  king- 
dom? Many  traits  of  the  child  have  been  men- 
tioned as  the  cause  of  Christ's  commendation,  e.g., 
innocence,  faith,  self-forgetfuhiess,  eagerness  to 
learn,  obedience.  What  do  you  think  Jesus  meant  ?^ 
5.  Very  frequently  Jesus  alludes  to  the  spirit 
which  should  animate  home  relationships. 

(1)  What  is  His  attitude  toward  the  fifth  com- 
mandment? Mark  7:10-13.-  How  did  His  own 
life  illustrate  this?     Luke  2:  51;  see  also  3  (1). 

(2)  He  alludes  now  and  then  to  breaches  between 
members  of  the  household.  What  attitude  of  mind 
would  He  see  cultivated :  As  a  personal  preparation 
of  helpfulness?  Matt.  7:3-5.  After  a  breach  has 
come?    Matt.  18:15-35. 

He  has  a  clear  discernment  of  what  influence 
His  message  is  to  have  upon  the  spirit  of  these  rela- 
tionships. Matt.  10:21,  34-36;  Mark  13:12,  13; 
Luke  12 :  49-53.  But  He  is  perfectly  uncompromis- 
ing in  His  teaching  of  the  relation  of  the  kingdom 
to  home  ties.  Matt.  10  :  37  ;  Mark  3  :  31-35  ;  10  : 
28-30;  Luke  9  :  59-G2  ;  14:2G-35.=^ 

Jesus  demands  of  His  followers  absolute  self- 
renunciation.      He  wants   all   or   nothing.      If   any 

1.  An  interesting  commentary  on  Jesus'  words  is  the  following: 
"It  is  written  in  the  Book  that  holds  the  wisdom  of  our  race  that 
one  who  is  reborn  into  the  kingdom  of  God  enters  as  a  little  child. 
It  is  there  in  black  and  white,  yet  few  people  get  the  idea  into  their 
consciousness.       Thej'    expect    regeneration    to    produce    an    upright 

man.     God  knows  better  than  that For  a  little  child  stumbles 

and  fails  and  goes  the   wrong  way  many   times  before  it   learns  the 
way   of   life."     White,   A    Certain   Rich   Man,   p.    405. 

2.  For  a  discussion  of  the  subject  of  Corban  see  Edersheim,  Life 
and    Times   of  Jesus    the   Ulessiah,    II,    18f. 

3.  Luke  14:  26  has  always  been  considered  "a  hard  saying."  But 
it  is  a  statement  of  relative  values.  Just  as  the  candle  flame  in  the 
presence  of  the  arc  light  is  as  a  dark  opaque  object  and  is  cast 
as  a  shadow,  so  in  comparison  with  the  love  of  Christ  ordinary 
human  love  is  as  hatred. 


70  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

human  love  can  compete  with  the  soul's  love  for 
Him,  then  the  latter  is  not  thoroughgoing.  Over 
and  over  again  Jesus  seems  to  repulse  those  who 
want  to  follow  Him,  bidding  them  wait  until  they 
are  ready  to  give  Him  this  undivided  allegiance. 
Yet  the  higher  allegiance  gives  to  the  human  affec- 
tions a  new  glory  and  a  new  satisfaction. 

6.  We  are  now  ready  to  discuss  a  subject  of 
the  greatest  importance  in  Jesus'  time  as  it  is  in 
ours — marriage  and  divorce.  We  have  now,  as  a 
background  for  the  discussion,  Jesus'  valuation  of 
the  home  and  of  the  relationships  which  are  in- 
cluded within  it.  So  vital  to  the  welfare  of  society 
did  Jesus  think  the  right  and  wrong  of  this  subject 
to  be  that,  as  has  been  suggested,^  He  departed  here 
from  His  usual  practice  and  discussed  the  theme 
with  a  good  deal  of  definiteness  and  fullness.  The 
passages  which  contain  Jesus'  teaching  are  the  fol- 
lowing: Matt.  5:27-32;  ]9:3-12  (Mark  10:2-12; 
Luke  16:18);  22:23-32  (Mark  12:18-27;  Luke 
20:27-40). 

From  a  study  of  these  passages  try  to  answer  the 
following  questions. 

(1)  Has  Jesus  any  of  the  ascetic  view  of  mar- 
riage ?" 

(2)  Is  He  insistent  upon  monogamy? 

(3)  How  long  is  marriage  to  continue? 

(4)  What  was  Moses'  attitude  toward  divorce? 


1.  p.    65. 

2.  The  ascetic  view  was  influenced  no  doubt  by  Paul's  teaching, 
1  Cor.  7:  8f.,  though  he  urged  his  particular  position  in  view  of 
what  he  felt  was  the  fact  that  Christ  was  soon  -to  return  (see  espe- 
cially ver.  29-34).  Also  the  moral  conditions  of  the  times  drove 
many    to    asceticism. 


SOCIAL  GROUPS:  THE  FAMILY  71 

(5)   Does  Jesus  permit  divorce? 

(())  Is  there  any  difference  between  the  sugges- 
tion of  Matthew  and  that  of  Mark  and  Luke  on  this 
point  ? 

(7)  Should  we  interpret  Jesus  according  to  the 
freer  or  the  stricter  statement? 

(8)  Would  Jesus  admit  the  application  of  the 
Mosaic  principle  to-day? 

(9)  What  is  the  essential  fact  in  unfaithfulness 
to  the  marriage  bond? 

(10)  Is  Jesus  legislating  on  this  subject,  or  set- 
ting forth  an  ideal  ? 

(11)  How  far  should  statutory  enactment  in  this 
field  be  in  advance  of  public  sentiment? 

Jesus'  stern  attitude  was  utterly  distasteful  to 
His  own  generation  as  it  is  to  ours.  Do  you  think 
it  too  ideal  for  modern  conditions?  What  should 
be  the  attitude  of  the  ministry  of  to-day  toward  the 
marriage  of  divorced  persons?  Wliat  should  be  the 
attitude  of  the  Church  toward  the  reception  of  such 
persons  to  membership  and  church  activities? 
What  should  be  our  social  attitude  toward  them? 

There  are  great  difficulties  in  the  way  of  holding 
that  Jesus  is  legislating  here.  If  He  is,  it  is  the 
sole  place  where  He  does  legislate,  and  moreover 
He  places  unfaithfulness  to  the  marriage  bond  in 
the  thought ;  hence  the  strict  interpretation  of 
Matthew  as  legislation  would  make  lustful  thought 
a  ground  for  absolute  divorce.  Jesus  seems  rather, 
here  as  elsewhere,  to  be  presenting  an  ideal.  To 
Him  marriage  is  indissoluble.^    The  spirit  of  Chris- 


1.     With    one    possible    exception. 


72  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OE  JESUS 

tian  love — of  justice  and  good  will — should  fill  the 
relation.  When  love  is  gone,  what  shall  be  done 
must  be  determined  as  Christ  everywhere  else  sug- 
gests, by  treating  the  individual  case  as  an  indi- 
vidual case.  The  ideal  for  the  Church  and  for 
the  Christian  individual  must  be  kept  where  Jesus 
put  it,  but  law  must  represent  not  the  ideal  but  the 
practical.  We  ought  to  work  earnestly  to  keep  the 
ideals  of  marriage  high,  to  correct  the  flippancy 
with  which  men  and  women  enter  the  relation — in 
other  words,  to  attack  the  evil  at  its  source.  Mean- 
while we  should  seek  to  limit  as  far  as  possible  the 
legal  causes  for  divorce,  to  secure  full  publicity  for 
all  divorce  proceedings,  and,  in  the  individual  case, 
before  divorce  is  sought,  to  counsel  patience  and 
Christian  forbearance,  and  especially  thoughtful- 
ness  for  the  children,  if  there  are  any.  The  saddest 
result  of  divorce  is  the  blighting  of  childhood. 

Some  of  the  modern  causes  of  the  prevalence  of 
divorce  should  be  carefully  considered — "the  ape 
and  the  tiger"  still  surviving  in  human  nature,  the 
strength  of  the  individualistic  philosophy,  the  edu- 
cation and  development  of  woman,  her  ability  to 
earn  her  own  way,  a  false  conception  of  marriage — 
that  it  is  a  contribution  to  the  happiness  of  two 
individuals  instead  of  being  a  training  school  of 
their  character  and  that  of  their  children. 

Professor  Peabody  points  out  that  the  present-day 
conflict  is  betv/een  the  individualistic  and  the  social 
theories  of  marriage,  between  "the  conception  of  it 
as  a  temporary  contract,  involving  the  interests  of 
those  who  are  known  as   'the  parties  concerned'; 


SOCIAL  GROUPS:  THE  FAMILY  7Z 

and  the  conception  of  it  as  a  social  institution  in- 
volving the  fabric  of  the  social  order."^  Jesus  sides 
with  those  who  hold  the  social  conception.  To  Him 
the  family  is  the  unit  of  social  life  and  development 
and  on  its  integrity  depends  the  present  and  the 
future  welfare  of  society.  In  this  respect,  as  in 
others,  His  attitude  toward  the  family  is  strikingly 
modern. 


1.  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Question,  p.  131.  The  same  posi- 
tion is  emphasized  in  a  wise  little  book,  Adler,  Marriage  and 
Divorce,  which  every  student  of  the  problem  should  ponder:  "I 
venture  to  say  that  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  even  fine  and  lovely 
people  will  enter  into  marriage  with  never  a  thought  beyond  that 
of  their  own  happiness.  They  forget  that  they  are  servants,  that 
there  are  great  social  ends  to  which  they  must  bow;  and  the  fact 
that  these  ends  are  lost  sight  of  is  the  chief  explanation  of  the 
increase   of  the   evil    of   divorce"    (pp.    13,    14). 


NOTES 


NOTES 


NOTES 


LESSON  VIII 
SOCIAL  GROUPS:  THE  RICH 

The  acquisition  and  right  use  of  wealth  is  one 
of  the  subjects  most  frequently  discussed  by  Jesus. 
Perhaps  the  reason  why  it  appears  so  often  is  in- 
directly given  in  Luke  16 :  14.  Moreover,  in  the  life 
of  any  civilized  community  a  large  part  of  the  time 
and  the  effort  of  the  individuals  who  make  it  up  has 
to  be  occupied  with  economic  affairs.  "What  shall 
we  eat,  what  shall  we  drink,  wherewithal  shall  we 
be  clothed?"  were  engrossing  questions  to  the  Jew 
of  Jesus'  time  as  they  are  to-day. 

1.     Apparently    the    Gospel    writers    were    not 
equally  interested  in  this  aspect  of  Jesus'  message. 
John  makes  no  reference  to  it  whatever.     Of  the 
characteristic  words  used  elsewhere  in  the  discussion 
the  Fourth  Gospel  employs  only  one  and  that  only 
incidentally— John  12  :  5,  8 ;  13  :  29.    The  Gospel  of 
Mark  has  not  much  more  material.     Five  passages, 
4 :  18,  19  ;  6  :  8-10 ;  10  :  17-30  ;  12  :  1-11,  41-44,  cover 
all    which   bears   even   remotely   upon   the   theme. 
Both  of  these  Gospels  have  other  objects  in  view. 
The  great  sources  of  the  teaching  are  Matthew  and 
Luke.    The  material  in  Matthew  is  as  follows:  5 
42;  6:19-34;  8:20;   10:9-11;   13:22,  44-46;   18 
21-35;  19:16-30;  20:1-16;  21:12,  13,  33-41;  25 
14-46.     Luke's  is  found  in  the  following  sections 
2 :  24 ;  6  :  20,  21,  24,  25,  30,  34,  35,  38 ;  7  :  41-43  ;  8 
14 ;  9 :  3,  4,  58  ;  10 :  4-7  ;  1 2,:  13-34 ;  14 :  15-24,  28-30 
15:  8-10;  16: 1-14,  19-31 ;  18  :  18-30;  19: 11-27;  20 


78  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

9-16;  31  :  1-4.  A  surface  comparison  of  the  amount 
of  this  material  will  show  that  there  is  nearly  twice 
as  much  of  it  in  Luke  as  in  Matthew.  But  there  is 
a  much  deeper  difference  than  appears  upon  the 
surface.  Luke  is  a  gospel  of  the  poor.  The  sym- 
pathies of  the  writer  are  evidently  with  the  unprivi- 
leged classes.  Whenever  he  and  Matthew  repeat 
the  same  sayings  they  are  almost  always  to  be  found 
in  his  Gospel  in  a  balder,  sterner  form  ;^  and  his 
material  includes  a  number  of  vigorous  passages  not 
recorded  elsewhere. - 

2.  Before  we  can  grasp  Jesus'  teaching  on  this 
subject  we  must  look  at  His  practice.  He  Himself 
belonged  to  the  poorer  classes,  Luke  2:22-24  (cf. 
Lev.  12:8;  5:11).  He  had  no  home  after  His 
ministry  was  fully  under  way  (Matt.  8:20).  He 
was  Himself  the  recipient  of  charity  (Luke  8:  1-3). 
But  as  far  as  His  own  associations  were  concerned. 
He  seemed  to  have  no  thought  of  rich  or  poor. 
See  Lesson  H.,  2  (6),  p.  16.  Other  passages  men- 
tion well-to-do  friends.  Matt.  8:14;  9:10;  Mark 
1  :  20  ;  16:1;  Luke  8  :  2,  3  ;  10  :  38-42  ;  18  :  23  ; 
John  18 :  15,  16  ;  John  19  :  38,  39.=^    Jesus  estimated 


1.  Matt.  S:  3,  6  and  Luke  6:  20,  24;  Matt.  S:  42  and  Luke  6:  30; 
Matt.    19:21   and   Luke    18:22. 

2.  Luke  12:  16-21;  16:  1-13,  19-31.  The  discussion  of  tliis  point 
in  Peabody's  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Question  is  especially  valu- 
able. He  sums  it  up  with  the  words:  "In  short,  between  Matthew 
and  Luke  there  is  as  marked  a  difference  of  teaching  as  may  be 
found  in  modern  literature  between  the  teaching  of  an  earnest  phil- 
anthropist and  the  teaching  of  a  socialist  agjtator"  (p.  194).  He 
attributes  the  difference  to  the  fact  that  "Luke  like  Paul,  with 
whom  he  lived  and  taught,  had  a  larger  social  experience  and  a 
keener  human  sympathy  than  the  other  evangelists."  Other  writers 
attribute  this  spirit  in  Luke  to  the  influence  of  the  ascetic  Jewish 
sect,    the    Ebionites. 

3.  See  Heuver,  The  Teaching  of  Jesus  Concerning  Wealth,  pp. 
110-112. 


SOCIAL  GROUPS:  THE  RICH  79 

men  not  by  the  standards  of  riches  or  poverty,  but 
in  the  spirit  of  brotherhood,  and  from  the  stand- 
point of  their  common  origin  in  God. 

3.  Turning  now  to  the  teaching  of  Jesus  itself 
we  are  struck : 

(1)  With  an  apparently  ascetic  quality.  This, 
as  has  been  stated,  is  accentuated  in  Luke,  but  it 
exists  also  in  Matthew  and  Mark. 

(a)  What  is  Jesus'  apparent  attitude  toward  the 
rich  in  such  passages  as  Matt.  6:19-24;  13:22; 
19:24;  Mark  10:23;  Luke  6:20,  24;  12:15-21; 
16:19-31;  18:22? 

(b)  What  is  His  apparent  requirement  of  the 
rich  man  who  seeks  admission  to  the  kingdom? 
Matt.  19  :  21 ;  Luke  12  :  33,  34  (cf.  Luke  19  :  8). 

(c)  What  is  His  attitude  toward  the  reception 
of  charity  by  His  disciples?  Matt.  10:9-11;  Luke 
10:  5-7.    His  own  example?    Luke  8:  1-3. 

That  the  ascetic  note  is  real  and  not  merely 
apparent  has  been  urged  by  some  writers  who  have 
appealed  for  the  corroboration  of  their  judgment 
to  that  early  bit  of  Christian  literaturCj  the  Epistle 
of  James  (see  especially  1:9-11;  2:1-9;  5:1-6), 
and  also  to  the  communistic  spirit  in  the  early  Jeru- 
salem church  (Acts  4:  34,  35).  But  Paul's  teaching 
is  proof  of  another  spirit  in  the  church  at  large 
(1  Cor.  13:3;  16:2;  2  Cor.  8:14;  9:7;  12:14; 
1  Thess.  4:  11),  and  the  story  of  Ananias  and  Sap- 
phira  (Acts  5:  1-11)  contradicts  the  idea  that  such 
communism  was  anything  but  a  voluntary  expres- 
sion of  the  spirit  of  fellowship.  Moveover,  the 
Jerusalem  practice  did  not  extend  to  other  churches. 


80  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

(3)  What  Jesus  was  attacking  was  not  wealth 
itself,  but  the  supremacy  of  wealth,  the  control  of 
life  by  "things"  (Matt.  6  :  24;  Luke  12  :  15).^  When 
riches  take  the  first  place  in  life  they  are  evil ;  when 
they  keep  the  place  of  due  subordination,  they  serve 
a  useful  purpose.  But  they  are  constantly  seeking 
to  usurp  the  place  which  is  not  truly  theirs.  So 
Jesus  is  constantly  calling  attention  to  the  dangers 
of  wealth.  From  a  study  of  the  following  what 
should  you  say  are  some  of  the  dangers  He  thought 
most  subtle?  Luke  12:13-21;  18:18-30;  16:19- 
31  ;  Matt.  6 :  25-34.  What  does  Jesus  mean  by  the 
phrase,  "the  deceitfulness  of  riches"?  Matt.  13:  22 
(Mark  4:19).  Luke  in  the  same  parable  uses  the 
phrase,  "choked  with  riches"  (Luke  8:14).  All 
these  dangers  can  be  summed  up  in  the  peril  to  the 
spirit  of  love.  Men  who  are  seeking  riches  as  their 
goal  tend  inevitably  to  become  self-centered,  hard- 
hearted, to  lose  "the  quality  of  mercy,"  and  even 
the  sense  of  any  personal  need.  A  smug  self- 
content  is  the  common  characteristic  of  those  who 
are  rich  toward  self  and  not  toward  God.  "Saint 
Francis  Xavier,  the  noble  Jesuit  missionary,  said 
that  in  the  confessional  men  had  confessed  to  him 
all  sins  that  he  knew  and  some  that  he  had  never 
imagined,  but  none  had  ever  of  his  own  accord  con- 
fessed that  he  was  covetous."-  All  this  destroys 
the  sense  of  unity  with  one's  fellows  and  of  depend- 
ence upon  them  and  upon  God,  creates  class  dis- 


1.  Mark  10:24  with  its  significant  change  from  ver.  23  supports 
this  view  if  the  text  can  be  sustained,  but  many  ancient  authorities 
omit  the  important  words  of  the  verse.  (See  revised  version, 
margin.) 

2.  Rauschenbusch.    Christianity    and    the   Social    Crisis,    p.    74. 


SOCIAL  GROUPS:  THE  RICH  81 

tinctions,  and  so  breaks  down  the  sense  of  social 
solidarity  which  the  kingdom  of  God  is  seeking  to 
develop  and  make  effective  in  society.^ 

(3)  But  Jesus'  teaching  in  respect  to  wealth  is 
not  merely  negative.  He  lays  emphasis  upon  the 
right  uses  of  wealth.  The  principal  passages  are 
Matt.  25:14-30,  31-46;  Luke  12:13-21;  16:1-13, 
19-31;  19:11-27. 

The  parables  of  the  Minae  and  of  the  Talents  are 
so  nearly  alike  that  they  suggest  two  reports  of  the 
same  story.  Yet  apparently  Jesus  did  not  hesitate 
to  repeat  material  when  He  felt  it  could  be  of  use. 
Our  use  of  the  word  talent  is  of  course  figurative. 
The  talent  to  which  Jesus  referred  was  a  sum  of 
money  equal  to  about  $1200.  The  mina  was  between 
$15  and  $20.  What  is  the  teaching  of  each  parable? 
They  have  their  relation  to  what?  Luke  19:1L 
So  the  gifts  of  God  specified  here  are  for  service  in 
the  kingdom.  Who  is  it  in  each  parable  that  bears 
the  brunt  of  Jesus'  criticism  ?  Our  criticism  of 
unfaithfulness  to  stewardship  is  usually  directed 
against  the  men  and  women  of  to-day  who  have 
great  possessions ;  does  Jesus  look  at  the  matter 
from  this  angle? 

Two  other  parables  show  the  sin  and  folly  of  a 
neglect  of  the  duty  of  stewardship :  the  Rich  Fool 
(Luke  12:13-21)  and  Dives  and  Lazarus  (Luke 
16:19-31).  The  first  was  under  the  control  of 
"things,"  seeking  "treasure  for  himself."  What  is 
it  to  be  "rich  toward   God"?     What  is  the  onlv 


.1.     Jesus  does  not   point   out  any   of   the   perils   of  poverty   to   the 
religious    spirit.      What    are    some    of    these? 


82  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OE  JESUS 

treasure  which  can  be  carried  out  of  this  world? 
Cf.  1  Cor.  13:  13. 

The  second  parable  is  the  most  awful  which  Jesus 
spoke.  It  is  clothed  in  the  imagery  of  the  rabbinical 
thought  of  the  time.  Dives  had  evidently  been  an 
almsgiver,  else  Lazarus  would  not  have  lain  day  by 
day  at  his  gate.  But  he  did  not  "give  himself  with 
his  alms ;  they  were  merely  incidental.  His  life 
and  that  of  his  brothers  centered  in  the  enjoyment 
of  their  possessions  and  this  selfish  absorption  pro- 
duced a  hardening  of  the  heart  which  made  the 
punishment  of  the  other  world  inevitable,  a  spiritual 
condition  which  could  not  be  changed  even  by  the 
warning  of  one  sent  from  the  world  of  the  dead. 

Two  other  parables  point  out  the  right  use  of 
wealth.  First,  that  which  has  caused  so  much  labor 
to  the  commentators,  the  Unjust  Steward  (Luke 
1G:1-13).^  But  the  point  is  not  difficult  to  see. 
Here  was  a  shrewd  man  who  saw  his  chance  to  use 
his  employer's  money  to  make  friends  for  himself. 
If  such  a  man  were  wise  enough  to  see  and  use  his 
opportunity,  how  much  more"  should  the  children 
of  the  kingdom  use  the  possessions  which  they  have 
acquired — the  mammon  of  unrighteousness  when 
wrongly  used — to  win  for  themselves  the  true  riches 
of  friendship  and  brotherhood  in  the  kingdom.  In 
what  practical  ways  can  the  spirit  of  the  parable  be 
carried  out? 


1.  "In  the  case  of  the  parable  of  the  Unjust  Steward  there  are 
something  like  thirty-six  interpretations  on  record."  Rauschenbusch, 
Christianity   and   the   Social   Crisis,   p.    78. 

2.  A  favorite  form  of  argument  with  Jesus — the  a  fortiori-r-is 
implied  here. 


SOCIAL  GROUPS:  THE  RICH  83 

In  the  other  parable,  that  of  the  Sheep  and  the 
Goats  (Matt.  25:31-iG),  in  what  terms  does  Jesus 
express  His  conception  of  stewardship?  The  judg- 
ment is  determined  by  what? 

Summing  up  then  Jesus'  teaching  on  the  subject 
of  the  acquisition  and  the  right  use  of  wealth,  Jesus 
here,  as  elsewhere,  was  no  ascetic.  He  was  a  poor 
man,  full  of  profound  sympathy  with  the  poor. 
Yet  in  the  body  of  the  disciples  it  was  John,  appar- 
ently one  of  those  in  the  most  comfortable  circum- 
stances (Mark  1 :  19,  20 ;  John  18  :  15,  16),  who  was 
His  closest  friend.  In  His  associations  He  seemed 
to  make  no  distinction  whatever  between  poor  and 
rich.  He  penetrated  beneath  such  artificial  dis- 
tinctions as  those  of  wealth  and  poverty  to  essential 
manhood.  He  saw  the  seductive  dangers  of  wealth 
and  the  difficulty  in  the  rich  man's  taking  the  atti- 
tude of  absolute  self-renunciation  which  He  de- 
manded of  all  His  followers.  But  He  saw  also  in 
wealth  the  possibility  of  service  and  He  called  to 
men  to  leave  the  service  of  mammon  and  to  use 
their  possessions  to  build  up  the  spirit  of  brother- 
hood, which  is  the  essence  of  the  kingdom.^ 


1.      Some  of  the  topics  which  are   worthy  of  sober  discussion  are: 

What  do  you  think  is  Jesus'  attitude  toward  the  accumulation  of 
property  ? 

What    constitutes    luxury  ? 

How  far  can  money  be  rightfully  used  for  personal  development? 
for   dress,   etc.? 

What  are  some  of  the  underlying  causes  of  the  mad  race  for 
wealth  in  our  generation?  How  far  is  man,  and  how  far  is  woman, 
responsible    for    it? 

Can  any  rule  be  laid  down  as  to  what  part  of  one's  income 
should    be    given    away? 

An  interesting  discussion  of  the  question,  "Was  Jesus  a  Social- 
ist?" is  to  be  found  in  Shailer  Mathews,  Social  Teaching  of  Jesus, 
pp.  148-1S5.  The  same  question  is  discussed  from  the  opposite 
point  of  view  in  Campbell,  Christianity  and  the  Social  Order,  Ch.  VI. 


NOTES 


NOTES 


NOTES 


LESSON  IX 
SOCIAL  GROUPS:  THE  POOR 

The  existence  of  the  rich,  such  has  been  the  con- 
struction of  society  thus  far,  presupposes  the  exis- 
tence of  the  poor.  Rich  and  poor  are  complemen- 
tary terms.  Up  to  our  time  poverty  has  not  been 
looked  upon  as  a  problem  to  be  solved ;  it  has  been 
considered  as  a  state  to  be  deplored  and  endured. 
But  to-day  we  are  beginning  to  see  that  poverty  like 
all  other  ills  from  which  man  suffers  has  its  deep 
underlying  causes.  It  used  to  be  charged  up  entirely 
to  individual  thriftlessness  or  individual  wrong- 
doing, but  now  we  are  realizing  that  society  is 
largely  to  blame  and  that  if  social  conditions  can  be 
altered  there  is  hope  of  eliminating  poverty  alto- 
gether. 

The  problem  of  poverty  was  much  more  hopeless 
in  Jesus'  time  than  it  is  in  ours.  It  stared  Him  in 
the  face  at  every  turn,  as  it  everywhere  confronts 
the  visitor  of  to-day  in  Palestine.  So  it  is  not 
strange  that  He  is  frequently,  directly  or  implicitly, 
dealing  with  it.  Once  He  gave  utterance  to  an  ex- 
pression about  the  poor  which  might  be  construed 
as  a  bit  of  hopeless  fatalism,  Matt.  2G:1]  (Mark 
14  :  ?  ;  John  13  :  8).  Is  this  Jesus'  meaning?  What 
is  the  point  of  His  reference?  In  several  other 
passages  He  seems  to  imply  that  there  is  a  merit  in 
being  poor  (Luke  6  :  20,  31 ;  9  :  3,  4 ;  10  :  4-7) .  Do 
you  think  this  is  Jesus'  meaning?     Did   He   look 


88  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

upon  His  disciples  as  objects  of  charity?  Luke 
10:7. 

As  has  been  already  more  than  once  pointed  out 
in  these  studies,  Jesus  was  a  poor  man.  He  came 
out  of  a  poor  home  and  His  associates  were  mostly, 
but  by  no  means  all,  of  the  poorer  class.  And  His 
work  was  principally  done  among  the  poor.  Al- 
though Pharisees  and  scribes,  rulers  of  the  syna- 
gogue, centurions,  and  now  and  then  a  royal  per- 
sonage, appear  in  the  Gospel  scenes,  the  multitudes 
that  thronged  Him  for  healing  and  for  instruction 
were  principally  made  up  of  the  poor.  Why  was 
He  attracted  to  them?  Was  His  the  motive  of  the 
revolutionary  leader?  What  light  do  Matt.  14: 
14 ;  15  :  32,  throw  on  His  motive  ?  He  felt  the  needs 
of  this  large  class  and  it  was  His  nature  to  go  where 
the  need  lay  ( Mark  3:17).  Knowing  from  per- 
sonal contact  the  suffering  of  the  poor.  He  wanted 
to  help  them. 

How  was  this  help  to  be  administered  ? 

1.  The  poverty  of  the  time  was  everywhere  pal- 
liated by  almsgiving.  Does  He  sanction  this? 
Matt.  5  :  42  ;  6  :  2-4 ;  Luke  6  :  30 ;  12  :  33.  What  was 
the  practice  of  the  company  to  which  He  belonged, 
although  they  themselves  were  supported  by  gifts? 
John  12  :  4-6 ;  13  :  29.  What  was  the  effect  of  His 
influence  upon  one  of  His  rich  followers?  Luke 
19 :  8.  What  was  the  command  laid  upon  another 
rich  man  who  wished  spiritual  help?  Matt.  19:  21. 
What  does  He  set  forth  as  the  decisive  test  of  char- 
acter? Matt.  25:34-45.  But  while  Jesus  accepted 
the  principle  of  almsgiving  as  natural.  He  felt  the 


SOCIAL  GROUPS:  THE  POOR  89 

dangers  of  its  abuse  (Matt.  6:"?-4).  Moreover, 
can  you  think  of  any  time  when  He  Himself  gave 
alms  ?  What  did  He  do  for  the  poor  people  who 
came  to  Him  asking  help?  Cf.  Mark  8  :  22-36  ;  10  : 
46-52.  (Cf.  Acts  3:2-8.)  How  important  was 
almsgiving  in  the  most  characteristic  story  of  His 
teaching  about  charity?    Luke  10:  30-37. 

Thus  while  Jesus  advocated  giving  as  a  primary 
duty  (Acts  20 :  35),  He  Himself  is  busy  doing  some- 
thing for  the  poor  which  is  far  better.  Just  as  He 
does  not  deal  with  symptoms  in  other  difficult  cases 
in  human  pathology,  but  goes  down  to  the  causes  of 
the  trouble,  so  here  what  He  has  to  give  is  given  to 
reach  the  cause.  The  poverty  and  beggary  of  Bar- 
timaeus  had  been  due  to  blindness,  so  He  removes 
that  instead  of  giving  money  or  food,  and  thus 
makes  it  possible  for  the  man  to  become  again  a  self- 
respecting  and  self-supporting  member  of  society. 

The  spirit  of  Christian  love  which  was  the  fruit 
of  Jesus'  presence  in  the  world  issued  in  the  virtue 
of  Caritas  which  became  specialized  as  Charity. 
As  time  went  on,  this  became  one  of  the  most  signifi- 
cant virtues  of  the  Christian  Church.  But  it  was 
more  and  more  looked  upon,  especially  during  the 
Middle  Ages,  as  a  merit  merely  to  give,  without 
thought  of  what  effect  the  gift  might  have  upon  the 
recipient.^  It  was  the  effect  upon  the  giver  that 
was  chiefly  thought  of,  upon  his  present  state  of 
mind,  his  future  in  the  heavenly  life.  Then  came 
the  great  reaction  against  such  charity,  a  reaction 
which   is   embodied   in   modern   organized   charity. 

1.     Uhlhorn,    Christian    Charity   in    the  Ancient   Church. 


90  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

How  far  do  Jesus'  teaching  and  practice  harmonize 
with  this  movement?  When  Jesus  says,  "Give  to 
him  that  asketh  thee,  and  from  him  that  would  bor- 
row of  thee  turn  not  thou  away"  (Matt.  5:42), 
how  far  does  He  mean  to  present  the  method  of 
giving?  Are  we  to  give  or  lend  without  any  thought 
as  to  the  result  in  the  character  of  the  gift  or  the 
loan?  Often  our  so-called  benevolence  is  prompted 
merely  by  a  desire  to  dismiss  a  case  or  save  our 
personal  feelings.  How  would  Jesus  Christ  regard 
this? 

2.  When  John  sent  to  Jesus  his  messenger  to  ask 
"Art  thou  he  that  cometh  or  look  we  for  another?" 
(Luke  7:  20),  part  of  the  reply  was  a  reference  to 
Isaiah  61:1  (see  margin).^  What  did  He  mean? 
What  were  the  good  tidings  to  the  poor?  Did  Jesus 
mean  that  there  was  to  be  an  abundance  of  alms 
for  them  in  the  new  kingdom?  Did  He  refer  to 
their  physical  necessities?  Is  His  word  limited  to 
either  the  physical  or  the  spiritual  realm  ?  WHiat  do 
you  consider  that  the  fulfillment  of  His  "good 
tidings  to  the  poor"  will  include?  What  will  the 
complete  coming  of  the  kingdom  mean  for  the  poor 
and  for  all  the  unprivileged  classes? 


1.  "That  the  'poor'  in  question  are  the  literally  poor,  and  the 
'lame  and  blind  and  the  lepers'  are  those  physically  afflicted  is 
obvious."      Cone,    Rich    and   Poor,    p.    71. 

See  also  Jesus'  use  of  this  passage  from  Isaiah  at  Xazareth,  Luke 
4:  16-21. 


NOTES 


NOTES 


LESSON  X 
SOCIAL  CLASSES 

There  were  in  the  time  of  Jesus,  as  there  are 
to-day,  lines  of  social  cleavage.  There  were  higher 
classes  and  lower  classes,  and  it  was  difficult,  then 
as  now,  to  pass  from  one  group  to  the  other. 
Wealth,  birth,  education,  character,  nationality,  all 
had  their  influence  in  determining  the  social  status 
of  the  individual.  Throughout  these  studies  we 
have  had  glimpses  of  the  different  social  strata  in 
Palestine  within  the  Jewish  nation  and  outside  it. 
The  scribes  and  Pharisees  form  one  group  with 
which  the  "publicans  and  sinners"  are  often  con- 
trasted (Mark  2:15,  16;  Luke  15:1).  We  now 
and  then  catch  sight  of  a  member  or  tw^o  of  the 
Roman  governing  class  (Matt.  27:11-26).  The 
Jewish  rulers  and  the  Pharisees  as  a  whole  are 
revealed  as  having  a  frank  contempt  for  the  people 
at  large,  the  "multitude"  who  do  not  have  the 
conventional  standard  of  legal  observances  (John 
7:49). 

What  was  Jesus'  attitude  toward  these  social 
distinctions?  Does  He  observe  them?  Can  we 
classify  Him  in  any  social  group? 

1.  As  has  been  pointed  out  (p.  18)  in  His  own 
practice  He  never  recognized  social  classes.  He 
moved  in  and  out  among  all  classes  and  conditions 
of  men  without  definitely  affiliating  with  any.  He 
had  the  "heart  of  love"  wdiich  makes  it  possible  for 


94  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

the  one  who  possesses  it  to  adapt  himself  to  any 
social  group. 

2.  In  His  teaching  there  is  no  room  for  a  fun- 
damental division  into  social  classes.  All  stand  on 
a  common  ground  because  all  are  children  of  one 
Father  and  the  pupils  of  one  Teacher  (Matt.  23:  8- 
12).  This  is  the  ideal  of  pure  democracy^  and  it  is 
no  wonder  that  the  great  political  democracies  of 
the  world  have  been  made  such  from  the  influence 
of  this  teaching. 

3.  Does  this  mean  that  Jesus  teaches  the  abso- 
lute equality  of  all  men?  Cf.  Matt.  25:  29.  Does 
Jesus  indicate  that  men  are  equally  equipped  for 
the  work  of  life,  that  they  will  meet  its  opportuni- 
ties in  such  a  way  as  to  get  from  them  equal 
rewards  ?  Matt.  13:3-8;  25  :  14-30 ;  Luke  19:12- 
26.  What  is  the  difference  between  democracy  and 
equality  ? 

The  teaching  of  Jesus  has  always  been  a  strong 
influence  in  the  development  of  individuality.  It 
has  never  set  an  outward  standard  to  which  all  men 
must  conform.  It  has  sought  to  transform  the 
inner  life,  to  set  free  the  essential  power  of  each 
individual.  In  Puritanism  this  individualistic  trend 
of  Christianity  was  carried  to  an  extreme,-  and  now 
the  reaction  has  come,  but  there  is  no  danger  that 
in  the  future  development  of  the  kingdom  the  indi- 
vidual will  be  lost  in  society. 

4.  The  spirit  of  brotherhood  should  prevent  any 


1.  Theodore  Parker  said  that,  "Democracy  meant  not  'I'm  as 
good  as  you  are,'  but  'You're  as  good  as  I  am.'  "  Lowell,  Democ- 
racv,    Works  VI.,   p.   20. 

2.  p.   8. 


SOCIAL  CLASSES  95 

groups  which  will  naturally  form,  by  the  law  of  like 
attracting  like,  from  becoming  mutually  exclusive 
(Luke  14:12-14).  We  cannot  conceive  of  Jesus' 
frowning  upon  the  close  associations  of  kinship  and 
friendship,  but  what  He  seeks  is  that  the  spirit  of 
brotherhood  shall  rule,  that  the  home  and  social  life 
shall  not  become  a  center  of  selfish  exclusiveness, 
but  shall  be  increasingly  one  of  the  great  instru- 
ments in  the  progress  of  the  kingdom. 

5.  There  is  only  one  class  which  Jesus  recog- 
nizes as  having  distinction  in  the  kingdom.  Mark 
9:35;  10:35-45;  Luke  22:35-27;  Matt.  23:11 
(cf.  John  13:1-20).  He  Himself  is  Master  and 
Lord  because  He  perfectly  embodies  the  spirit  He 
is  seeking  to  reproduce  in  His  disciples. 

While  Jesus  moved  freely  in  and  out  among  the 
different  groups  which  made  up  the  social  life  of 
His  time  and  nation  without  distinctly  affiliating 
Himself  with  any,  yet  He  had  a  profound  interest 
especially  in  one.  They  found  a  large  proportion 
of  the  men  and  women  of  His  time,  the  submerged 
class,  the  outcasts  from  the  religious  and  social  life 
of  the  nation.  These  "outcasts" — to  use  a  word 
which  in  its  broad  meaning  will  include  them  all — 
were  of  several  sorts. 

1.  There  were  the  outcasts  who  had  become 
such  by  disease.  Luke  8  :  26-39  ;  Mark  ]  :  40-42  ; 
Luke  17  :  11-19 ;  cf.  Lev.  13  :  46. 

2.  There  was  the  outcast,  shut  out,  for  one 
reason  or  another,  from  religious  associations  and 
privileges.    John  9  :  34. 

3.  There  was  the   outcast,   made   such  by  the 


96  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

circumstances  of  national  development.  John  4:9; 
Luke  9:51-55;  10:33;  17:15-18;  cf.  also  Mark 
7 :  25-30.  In  these  particular  cases,  how  had  this 
feeling  originated? 

4.  There  was  the  outcast  made  such  by  his  rela- 
tion to  a  hated  ruling  race.  Matt.  9  :  9-11 ;  Luke 
19 :  1-10.  This  group  was  always  associated  with 
the  lowest  elements  of  society.  Matt.  9  :  10 ;  31 :  32  ; 
Luke  15 :  1. 

5.  Finally  there  was  the  group  of  those  whom 
the  Gospels  call  "sinners."  Matt.  9:10;  21:32; 
Luke  15:1;  John  8  :  3-11. 

What  Jesus'  teaching  was  concerning  these  "out- 
casts" from  Jewish  society  we  must  get  at  for  the 
most  part  inductively.  Here,  even  more  than  ordi- 
narily, His  teaching  is  wrapped  up  in  His  action. 
We  discover  the  principles  of  his  gospel  toward 
these  ostracized  men  and  women  by  a  study  of  the 
way  He  treated  them.  What,  then,  was  His  atti- 
tude toward  the  outcast  of  His  time,  an  attitude 
which  by  implication  He  iirges  upon  us? 

1.  He  did  not  shun  contact  and  association  with 
these  people.  He  felt  that  they  were  in  real  and 
conscious  need  of  Him.  Those  sick  in  body  and 
sick  in  soul,  those  outside  the  pale  of  social  respect, 
knew  they  needed  His  aid  (Matt.  9:10-13;  Luke 
18:  9-14),  and  this  drew  Him  to  them.  INIoreover, 
He  realized  that  there  was  far  more  hope  of  reach- 
ing them  than  of  affecting  the  self-satisfied  Phari- 
see (Matt.  21 :  31  ;  John  4 :  35,  39  ;  Luke  8  :  38,  39). 
So  He  mingled  with  them,  to  the  disgust  of  the 
Jewish  ecclesiastical  leaders.     Again  and  again  He 


SOCIAL  CLASSES  97 

broke  convention  and  tradition,  even  the  form  of 
the  law  itself,  in  the  interest  of  humanity.  He 
touched  the  leper  (Mark  1:41)  ;  He  made  friends 
with  the  man  whom  the  rulers  of  the  synagogue 
had  excommunicated  (John  9:35);  He  was  in 
frequent  association  with  the  Samaritans,  with 
whom  the  Jews  ordinarily  have  no  dealings  (John 
4:4f^)  ;  He  ate  with  publicans  and  sinners  (Mark 
2:  15).  He  knew  that  if  the  leaven  is  to  leaven  the 
lump,  it  must  be  in  the  dough,  not  outside  the  dish. 

2.  He  took  this  attitude  toward  these  classes 
not  only  because  He  realized  their  need,  but  because 
He  recognized  that  they  are  all  children  of  a 
common  Father,  that  the  Father's  heart  is  as  warm 
toward  these  despised  ones  as  toward  any  others 
of  His  children.  This  is  the  whole  point  of  Luke 
15.  Verse  1  gives  the  reason  why  Jesus  related  the 
parables  continued  in  this  chapter. 

3.  Again  He  took  this  attitude  because  He 
believed  in  the  moral  value  and  capacity  for  spirit- 
ual development  in  every  man,  no  matter  where  he 
is  in  the  social  or  the  moral  scale.  He  had  a  pro- 
found belief  in  human  nature.  This  is  the  under- 
lying thought  of  the  parable  of  the  Seed  Growing 
Secretly  (Mark  4:26-29).^  The  parable  of  the 
Lost  Sheep  shows  Jesus'  estimate  of  the  value  of 
a  single  soul  (Luke  15:4-7).  In  the  hands  of  the 
individual  is  his  destiny,  he  is  "master  of  his  fate." 
John  5  :  40 ;  Matt.  23  :  37. 

There  is  a  peculiar  tenderness  in  Jesus'  attitude 

1.  More   than   once   He   sets   np  the    Samaritan   as   an   example   to 
the   Jews.      Luke    10:33;    17:17,    18. 

2.  See   the  interesting  marginal  note  to   Luke  6:  35. 


98  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

toward  this  class  about  which  we  have  been  study- 
ing, especially  toward  those  who  have  gone  astray 
through  sins  of  the  senses.  There  are  no  more 
beautiful  pictures  in  the  New  Testament  than 
those  in  Luke  7:36-50;  15:11-32;  John  8:3-11. 
It  has  again  and  again  been  pointed  out  that  Jesus 
seems  to  share  none  of  the  implacable  bitterness  of 
so  large  a  part  of  modern  society  toward  such 
offenders.  To  Him  there  are  far  more  hopeless 
states  of  sin  (Mark  3:38-30;  Matt.  23:13-33). 
He  bids  men  beware  of  covetousness,  and  of  selfish- 
ness in  its  varied  forms,  but  He  does  not  hold  up 
sins  of  the  flesh  for  special  attack.  This  is  not 
because  He  undervalues  the  family,  as  has  been 
already  pointed  out  in  Lesson  VH.,  not  because  He 
does  not  realize  the  gravity  of  such  sins  (cf.  Matt. 
5:27-30),  but  because  relatively  such  sins  do  not 
put  men  in  bondage  as  do  the  sins  of  the  intellect 
and  of  the  heart.  The  woman  in  Simon's  house  is 
still  capable  of  love ;  her  heart  has  not  been  with- 
ered by  hypocrisy  and  pride.  The  Pharisee  thanks 
God  he  is  not  like  other  men ;  the  publican  knows 
he  is  a  sinner.  There  is  always  hope  for  the  man 
who  realizes  how  far  down  he  is,  how  much  climb- 
ing there  is  to  do  beyond  the  place  w^here  he  is 
standing,  to  which  perhaps  he  has  sunk. 


NOTES 


NOTES 


LESSON  XI 
SOCIAL  GROUPS:  THE  STATE 

Jesus  was  not  a  teacher  of  politics  any  more  than 
He  was  a  teacher  of  economics,  but  He  was  deeply 
interested  in  life,  which  includes  both  as  important 
elements.  This  interest  is  reflected  here  as  else- 
where in  His  speech,  one  of  the  best  of  tests.  His 
language,  is  full  of  political  suggestion.  Indeed  His 
message — His  good  tidings — is  in  terms  of  the 
state.  Study  the  following:  Matt.  12:25;  18:23; 
22  :  2  ;  Mark  15:2;  Luke  14 :  31,  32 ;  John  18  :  33-37. 

1.  He  had  a  deep  interest  in  His  own  country. 
He  was  constantly  alluding  to  its  physical  charac- 
teristics— flowers,  animals,  birds,  mountains,  etc. 
Matt.  G  :  26-30  ;  13  :  3-8  ;  Mark  6  :  31,  46  ;  Luke 
9:58;  John  6 :  10.  Its  history  and  its  literature 
were  at  His  tongue's  end.  Matt.  4:4,  6,  10 ;  5 :  17, 
21,  27,  33,  38,  43;  9:13;  11:14;  Luke  4:16-27; 
6:3,  4;  11:30-32.  He  declared  that  His  mission 
was  first  to  His  own  people.  Matt.  15 :  21-28.  And 
nothing  could  be  tenderer  than  His  lament  over  the 
city  which  will  not  heed  His  entreaties  and  warn- 
ings.   Matt.  23 :  27. 

As  has  been  pointed  out,^  His  great  temptation, 
often  recurring,  had  been  to  fall  in  with  the  current 
Jewish  expectation  and  become  a  revolutionary 
leader,  wresting  the  government  from  the  Romans 
and  administering  it  Himself.  Matt.  4:1-11; 
16  :  21-25  ;  John  6  :  15  ( Alark  6  :  46)  ;  cf.  also  Mark 

1.     p.     31. 


102  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

14 :  36.  But  He  conquered  this  temptation  and  took 
the  attitude  of  respect  for,  and  obedience  to,  the 
constituted  authority.  Mark  12:13-17;  Matt.  17: 
24-27.^  He  came  into  conflict  with  the  regula- 
tions of  both  the  Jewish  and  the  Roman  state  but 
He  showed  no  disposition  to  dispute  their  authority 
(John  18  and  19:1-26). 

In  Jesus'  teaching  the  old  ideal  of  government 
appears  in  contrast  to  His  own.  The  luxury  of  the 
court  life  (Luke  7:25),  the  self-interest  of  rulers, 
their  authority  founded  on  power,  etc.  (Mark 
10:42),  these  are  touched  upon  with  a  suggestion 
of  irony  in  His  crisp  words.  Over  against  them  is 
His  own  thought,  a  theocracy  in  which  all  the 
members  are  on  the  same  level — like  children  in  a 
home  with  a  loving  Father  to  care  for  them,  like 
scholars  in  a  school  with  one  Teacher  over  them 
(Matt.  23:8-10),  a  pure  democracy  as  far  as  the 
members  of  the  kingdom  are  concerned,  under  "the 
fatherly  monarchy  of  God."  The  only  basis  of 
rank  in  the  kingdom  is  service.  The  great  one  in 
the  new  rule  will  be  great  because  he  does  most  for 
the  Hfe  of  others  (Matt.  20:26-28;  23:11;  Mark 
9:35;  10:43,  44;  Luke  22:26;  John  13:1-17). 
Not  self-interest  nor  self-satisfaction,  nor  the  pos- 
session of  power  is  to  be  the  ruling  motive  of  the 
court  of  the  new  kingdom,  but  those  in  whom  the 


1.  The  question  about  the  tribute  to  Cassar  was  of  such  a  nature 
as  to  call  forth  from  Jesus  an  equivocal  reply,  and  the  incident 
about  the  temple  tax  is  not  a  governmental  matter,  but  each 
reveals  His  general  attitude  and  spirit  toward  authority.  See 
Shailer  Mathews,  Tlie  Social  Teaching  of  Jcsiis,  pp.  116-119.  Cf.  the 
attitude  of  the  apostolic  leaders  toward  the  government  under  which 
they  lived.  Acts  16:37;  22:25;  25:10.  11;  1  Tim.  2:2;  1  Peter 
2:  13-17. 


SOCIAL  GROUPS:  THE  STATE  103 

spirit  of  brotherhood  is  most  completely  incarnate 
are  to  be  the  nobility  in  it  who  shall  vie  with  each 
other  in  deeds  of  helpfulness. 

Who  shall  say,  when  he  looks  out  upon  the  world 
of  to-day,  with  its  aristocracy  of  the  men  and  the 
women  who  are  putting  their  all  of  strength  and 
wealth  and  intellect  and  character  at  the  service  of 
the  world  in  utter  self-forgetfulness,  that  the  king- 
dom of  God  is  not  coming? 

2.  But  much  as  Jesus  loved  His  own  country 
and  longed  to  rescue  it  from  the  hypocrisy  and  the 
selfishness  of  its  rulers,  yet  His  was  a  broader  ideal 
than  that  of  national  patriotism — great  as  is  that 
virtue.  The  national  Messianic  ideal  pictured  a 
kingdom  which  should  bring  relief  and  blessing  to 
the  Jew.^  What  the  attitude  of  the  Jew  had  become 
toward  outside  nations  is  suggested  by  Matt.  5 :  43. 
The  Pharisee  had  built  about  himself  a  wall  of 
ceremonial  to  protect  him  from  the  defilement 
which  even  contact  with  the  outside  world  would 
bring.  Such  caste  feeling  could  easily  lead  to  race 
hatred,  and  to  the  Jew,  as  to  other  nations  of 
antiquity,  a  foreigner  was  an  enemy.  But  Jesus 
caught  up  and  still  further  amplified  the  noble 
words  of  the  great  prophets  (Isa.  49:6)  and  pro- 
claimed that  His  kingdom  was  to  embrace  the 
whole  earth.  His  followers  were  to  go  out  and 
make  disciples  of  all  the  nations  (Matt.  28  :  ]9). 

Only  after  the  message  has  been  thus  proclaimed 
to  all  men  can  the  kingdom  come  in  its  complete- 
ness (Mark  13:  10). 

.1.     p.    29. 


104  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

Such  is  Jesus'  ideal  of  the  Christian  state — each 
nation  filled  with  the  spirit  of  brotherhood,  its 
rulers  those  who  best  embody  the  self-forgetful- 
ness  and  the  desire  to  be  of  use  which  Jesus  Him- 
self so  perfectly  exemplified;  all  the  nations,  be- 
cause each  is  filled  with  the  Christ  spirit,  becoming 
servants  one  of  another,  making  up  one  great 
"Federation  of  the  World"  of  Avhich  the  control- 
ling spirit  is  love  to  God  and  love  to  man.  That 
this  happy  result  of  the  leaven  of  Christ's  message 
is  to  be  achieved  no  one  who  has  come  under  His 
spell  can  doubt.  Even  the  prophets  looked  for- 
ward eagerly  to  the  time  when  swords  would  be 
beaten  into  ploughshares  and  spears  into  pruning 
hooks,  and  when  war  should  be  no  more  (Tsa. 
2:4;  Micah  4:3;  Joel  3:10).  How  much  more 
shall  we  who  believe  that  nothing  can  eventually 
stand  against  the  spirit  of  Jesus  see  in  vision,  not 
so  remote  as  once  men  thought  it  to  be,  the  day 
when  the  world  shall  be  one  in  desire  to  serve  one 
another  in  the  spirit  of  Him  who  "made  of  one 
every  nation  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the 
earth"  (Acts  17:26).  Meanwhile  shall  not  we 
who  honor  the  name  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  use 
whatever  influence  may  in  us  lie  to  bring  to  an  end 
the  "insane  cultivation  of  the  art  of  war"  which  "is 
the  reproach  and  breakdown  of  statesmanship"^  of 
to-day?  The  victories  of  the  world  are  won  first  in 
the  ideal  realm,  and  if  war  ceases  it  will  be  because 
the  majority  of  the  influence  of  the  world  has  been 
won  to  the  side  of  peace.     Let  labor  and  education 


1.     Stalker,    The  Ethics  of  Jesus,   p.    365. 


SOCIAL  GROUPS:  THE  STATE  105 

and  religion  stand  together  and  the  day  of  the 
dreadnaught  will  be  over,  and  the  millions  upon 
millions  which  to-day  are  lavished  upon  armaments 
will  become  available  for  the  betterment  of  national 
and  international  life,  and  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
will  come  by  leaps  and  bounds  instead  of  in  the 
slow  progress  of  a  laborious  evolution.^ 


1.  At  the  opposite  extreme  from  the  philosophy  of  the  dread- 
naught  is  the  non-resistance  attitude  of  Tolstoi,  which  is  founded 
on   a    narrow   exegesis   of    Matt.    5 :  38-42. 

The  student  will  find  Professor  James'  article  on  The  Moral 
Equivalent  of  War,  McClurcs  Magazine,  August,  1910,  full  of 
suggestions. 


NOTES 


NOTES 


NOTES 


LESSON  XII 
CONCLUSION 

Such  in  its  main  outline  is  the  social  message  of 
Jesus.  Nothing  could  be  more  simple  but  nothing 
could  be  more  far-reaching.  Everyone  is  a  child  of 
God,  the  Heavenly  Father.  God  is  love,  and  the 
spirit  of  love  should  control  all  the  life  of  each  of 
His  children.  Each  should,  as  far  as  in  him  lies, 
fill  the  relationships  of  life  with  the  spirit  of  broth- 
erhood and  then  the  kingdom  of  God  will  come — 
has  come.  Jesus'  message  to  the  social  life  of  His 
time  and  ours  is  not  an  academic  formulation  of  a 
theory  of  social  conduct,  but  is  simply  the  applica- 
tion of  the  principle  and  motive  of  brotherhood 
to  the  particular  cases  which  came  to  His  attention. 
And  the  problems  of  the  social  world  can  be  solved 
in  no  other  way  than  by  the  embodiment  of  this 
spirit  in  individual  human  lives.  Organization  and 
legislation  can  focus  influence  that  otherwise  would 
be  scattering  and  ineffective,  but  organization  and 
legislation,  to  achieve  results,  must  have  behind 
them  the  energy  of  earnest  and  loving  spirits  who 
believe  heart  and  soul  in  the  ideal  of  the  kingdom 
and  are  seeking  to  make  it  the  rule  of  the  world. 

If  we  accept  this  interpretation  of  Jesus'  mes- 
sage, the  question  which  confronts  us  is :  What  is 
our  personal  duty  and  responsibility?  Phillips 
Brooks  once  said :  "I  know  no  truth  which  is  not 
the  parent  of  duty."  Some  truth  may  perhaps 
be  held  simply  in  the  intellectual  sphere,  without 
affecting  life.     But   spiritual   truth   is   not   of   this 


110  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

sort.  To  know  spiritual  truth  is  to  become  a  new 
man/  If  such  knowledge  does  not  make  us  better, 
it  makes  us  worse.  The  apprehension' of  spiritual 
truth  is  a  personal  judgment. 

Therefore  what  are  we  to  do  with  this  social 
message  of  Jesus?  Only  one  thing — we  too  must 
seek  to  fill  our  lives,  as  He  filled  His,  with  the 
spirit  of  brotherhood.  Our  only  responsibility  is 
to  fill  with  justice  and  good  will  every  relationship 
of  life  in  which  God  has  placed  us,  to  treat  as  our 
neighbor  everyone  who  is  within  the  reach  of  our 
help. 

As  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom  was  to  be  preached 
first  at  Jerusalem,  so  those  relationships  which  are 
nearest  the  center  of  the  life  of  each  individual 
are  first  to  be  transformed  by  this  new  spirit." 
Oftentimes  it  is  in  the  home  that  men  and  women 
find  it  most  difficult  to  manifest  the  spirit  of  broth- 
erliness ;  there  an  opportunity  is  too  often  found 
for  a  relief  of  the  tension  under  which  the  restraints 
of  good  society  put  the  individual,  and  a  wife,  or  a 
child,  or  a  brother,  or  a  sister,  is  the  object  of  an 
irritation  which  its  subject  would  be  ashamed  to 
manifest  toward  anyone  outside  the  home.  The 
spirit  of  the  kingdom  must  change  all  this. 

And  there  are  others  with  whom  we  are  brought 
into  relationship  in  the  home.  Many  pass  in  and 
out  of  the  home  in  service  of  one  sort  or  another. 
In  many  homes  there  are  helpers  more  or  less  per- 
manent.    How  shall  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  be 

1.  "If  there  is  a  God,  I  must  love  Him.  I  must  pour  out  my 
soul  upon  Him.  I  must  worship  at  His  feet.  I  must  be  at  one 
with   Him."      Hunger,    On    the    Threshold,   p.    218. 


CONCLUSION  111 

manifested  toward  these?  How  many  persons 
there  are  who  are  interested  in  the  broad  industrial 
question,  who  perhaps  are  putting  time  and  money 
into  the  betterment  of  condition  of  the  shirtwaist 
maker,  or  of  the  child  laborer,  but  who  overlook 
the  industrial  problem  as  illustrated  in  their  own 
homes  and  perhaps  are  making  slaves  of  their  own 
workers.  Some,  perhaps,  are  interested  in  the  prob- 
lem of  the  overcrowding  of  the  tenement,  but  are 
not  asking  whether  some  of  the  tenement  house 
conditions  are  not  reproduced  in  their  own  homes. 
Have  their  helpers  the  air  space  necessary  for  work 
and  sleep?  Are  they  driven  out  into  the  street  to 
meet  their  friends  because  no  adequate  place  is 
provided  wnthin  the  walls  of  the  home?^ 

We  are  coming  to  realize  that  the  only  way  in 
which  the  broad  industrial  question  can  be  answered 
is  by  the  practical  exhibition  of  the  spirit  of  broth- 
erhood. Its  manifestation  cannot  be  one-sided. 
Employer  must  manifest  it  toward  employee  and 
employee  toward  employer,  the  stronger  of  course 
having  the  greater  responsibility  for  sharing  the 
burden  of  the  weak.  Many  women  as  well  as  men 
are  large  employers  of  labor  through  their  pos- 
session of  invested  wealth.  How  far  is  that  wealth 
filled  with  the  spirit  of  brotherhood?  For  after  all 
the  greatest  opportunity  for  benevolence  is  through 
the  regular  channels  of  the  use  of  money,  not 
through  the  avocation  of  giving. 

By    the    natural    affinities    of    circumstance    and 


1.  For  an  interesting  description  of  a  movement  with  the  true 
ideal  of  helpfulness  to  the  home  workers,  the  Good  Fellowship  Club 
at  Vassar,  see   The  Survey,  July  2,    1910,   p.    523. 


112  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

character  we  are  all  of  us  members  of  social  groups. 
What  is  the  attitude  of  those  groups  toward  one 
another?  Is  the  spirit  of  Christian  brotherhood 
filling  the  social  circles  in  which  we  move?  Is  Luke 
14:13-14  the  practice  of  our  friends  or  of  our- 
selves? Is  the  educated  man  or  woman  filling  his 
or  her  education  with  the  spirit  of  brotherhood? 
Does  it  make  him  or  her  a  better  member  of  the 
home  and  of  society,  or  is  it  a  barrier  of  separation 
between  himself  and  his  father  and  mother  and  his 
old  friends?  Is  his  education  an  instrument  of 
social  service  or  does  it  minister  to  personal  selfish- 
ness? 

We  are  in  the  larger  relationships  of  the  nation. 
Are  we,  as  far  as  in  us  lies,  infusing  the  spirit  of 
brotherhood  into  the  political  life  of  which  we  are 
a  part?  Are  we  standing  outside  political  life,  look- 
ing on  in  a  critical  mood,  or  trying  from  within  to 
leaven  it  ?  Are  we  helping  to  realize  there  the  ideals 
of  Jesus?  For  our  rulers  are  we  content  with  any- 
thing short  of  Jesus'  ideal  of  greatness  by  service? 
What  is  our  attitude  toward  the  men  and  women 
who  have  come  from  other  lands  to  share  in  our 
national  life?  On  the  Fourth  of  July,  1910,  in  the 
city  of  Rochester,  New  York,  a  civic  banquet  was 
held  at  which  the  city  clubs  welcomed  to  the  life  of 
the  city  the  two  hundred  men,  Italians,  Russians, 
Germans  and  Englishmen,  who  had  been  natural- 
ized within  the  city  during  the  year  just  closed. 
After  a  time  of  conversation  and  good  fellowship 
there  were  speeches,  then  all  rose  and  clasping 
hands  said  together  the  old  freeman's  oath :  "I  do 


CONCLUSION  113 

solemnly  bind  myself  that  I  will  give  my  vote  and 
suffrage  as  I  shall  judge  in  my  own  conscience  may 
best  conduce  to  the  public  weal."  Then  with  hands 
still  clasped,  the  friends  new  and  old  sang:  "My 
country,  'tis  of  thee!"^  Shall  we  help  make  such  a 
manifestation  of  brotherhood  as  this  prevail  in  the 
whole  land?  Shall  the  Chinese  and  the  Japanese 
feel  the  warmth  of  a  similar  welcome?  What  shall 
be  our  attitude  toward  those  "aliens  in  their  native 
land"^ — the  Indian  and  the  negro?  Are  all  these 
our  brothers? 

Does  our  Christianity  reach  beyond  the  borders 
of  our  own  land?  Is  it  "too  light  a  thing"-  for  us 
also  that  our  Christ  should  raise  up  the  United 
States  or  Europe?  Do  we  desire  that  He  be  a  light 
to  every  nation,  the  salvation  of  Jehovah  to  the  end 
of  the  earth  ?  Do  we  desire  that  all  nations  should 
share  the  blessings  a  Christian  civilization  has 
brought  us?  Or  is  it  too  great  a  task  for  us  to 
attempt  to  leaven  every  human  relationship, 
wherever  humanity  is  found,  the  world  over,  with 
the  spirit  of  Christian  brotherhood? 

Such  are  a  few  hints  of  the  way  in  which  we  can 
follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the  great  Teacher  in  help- 
ing Him  build  up  His  kingdom  in  the  twentieth 
century.  But  as  students  of  the  social  problem  we 
may  be  seeking  something  more  than  this  general 
service,  we  may  be  asking  for  some  definite  work  to 
do  for  the  betterment  of  the  world.  Social  service 
is  the  watchword  of  the  time.     How  can  we  help 


1.  The   Survcx,    Tuly    \6,    1910,    p.    604. 

2.  Isa.    49:6. 


114  THE  SOCIAL  MESSAGE  OF  JESUS 

directly  the  unprivileged  and  those  who  suffer  to 
share  in  the  blessings  of  the  kingdom  ? 

The  present  is  a  time  of  unfolding  opportunity. 
One  has  simply  to  read  such  a  paper  as  The  Survey 
week  by  week  to  see  how  the  avenues  of  social 
service  are  steadily  multiplying.  The  older  oppor- 
tunities of  the  Social  Settlement,  the  Child  Labor 
Committee,  the  Playground  Association,  the  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Study  and  Prevention  of  Tuber- 
culosis, do  not  close,  but  other  doors  open :  training 
classes  in  Philanthropy,  Societies  of  Social  and 
Moral  Hygiene,  Associations  for  the  Prevention 
of  Blindness,  Know-Your-City  institutes,  etc.  All 
these  and  scores  of  other  organizations  are  testi- 
mony to  the  quickening  sense  of  social  responsi- 
bility. But  in  seeking  for  new  opportunities,  let 
us  not  overlook  those  that  are  oldest  and  nearest. 
For  most  of  us  the  great  social  opportunity  of 
present-day  service  is  the  Christian  Church.  It 
possesses  organization,  ideals,  wealth,  the  spirit  of 
benevolence.  It  forms  a  center  of  social  unity  and 
can  be  utilized  to  bring  into  fellowship  and  co-oper- 
ation those  whom  society  so  often  separates.  In  it 
are  the  little  children  within  reach  of  those  who 
would  mould  them  for  future  service.  The  possi- 
bilities of  the  Church  as  a  social  force  have  not 
as  yet  been  at  all  adequately  realized.  What  is 
needed  is  leadership,  and — not  less  important — 
those  who  will  follow  the  new  leadership  which  is 
developing  within  the  Church  itself.  The  Church 
needs  students  who  shall  discover  for  themselves 
"the  simplicity  which  is  in  Christ,"  and  shall  turn 


CONCLUSION  115 

from  theological  disquisition  to  the  service  of  their 
fellow  men  in  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  using  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Church  and  the  untold  power  of  the 
co-operation  of  those  whom  it  has  gathered  into  its 
membership  to  bring  in  the  fullness  of  the  promise 
of  the  kingdom.^ 

"Lovest  thou  me?"  "Feed  my  sheep."  "Come 
unto  me."  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world."  Looking 
to  God  for  strength  and  wisdom,  to  Jesus  for  the 
ideal  and  the  inspiration  of  life,  we  are  called  to 
go  out  in  the  spirit  of  justice  and  good  will  to 
protect  the  weak,  to  comfort  the  suffering,  to  help 
the  unprivileged  share  the  opportunities  of  the 
noblest  manhood  and  womanhood,  to  do  what  we 
can  by  filling  life  full  of  love  to  establish  at  last  on 
earth  the  City  of  God,  of  which  the  seers  of  every 
age  have  dreamed  since  man  first  began  to  believe 
in  God  or  to  love  his  neighbor. 

"  Oh,  strengthen  me,  that  while  I  stand 
Firm  on  the  Rock,  and  strong  in  Thee, 
I  may  stretch  out  a  loving  hand 
To  wrestlers  with  the  troubled  sea. 

"  Oh,  teach  me,  Lord,  that  I  may  teach 
The  precious  things  Thou  dost  impart; 
And  wing  my  words,  that  they  may  reach 
The  hidden  depths  of  many  a  heart. 

"  Oh,  fill  me  with  Thy  fullness,  Lord, 
Until  my  very  heart  o'erflow 
In  kindling  thought  and  glowing  word 
Thy  love  to  tell,  Thy  praise  to  show." 


1.  Nothing  is  more  significant  socially  and  religious!}',  of 
better  things  to  be  than  the  drawing  together  of  the  labor  unions 
and  the  churches.  What  can  we  do  more  than  we  are  doing  to 
complete   this   movement? 


NOTES 


NOTES 


NOTES 


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NOTES 


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DATE  DUE 

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CAYLORD 

PRINTEOIN  USA 

BS2417  .S7P26 

The  social  message  of  Jesus :  a  course 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00030  0790 


